Gackt's big announcement

It is official... Gackt has admitted his true age.






He will be 37 next year. This shocking announcement comes as he prepares for his new role... Kyoshiro.

This shocking announcement is not so shocking for fans who have suspected this for a while. (his age was speculated after a special in-show movie during his 6th day / 7th night concert)

Further news on his new role... it appears from my recent translations that Kyoshiro is not a movie... it is actually a stage production based on the various Kyoshiro shows I mentioned in the previous blog.

No word on if a DVD of the live show will follow

Gackt's new role

Ok, my translation on this is really bad... But it seems Gackt is appearing in a new role... Nemuri Kyoshiro.

It was a show in the 50's with a remake in the 60's, and a re-remake in the late 90's, about a half Japanese Ronin. There was also a manga version that appeared in a weekly magazine from 2001 to 2003.

Gackt, it seems, will appear in the role of Kyoshiro.

I've never seen Nemuri Kyoshiro, but rumor is he is a sleepy-eyed masterless warrior who is red-headed and is a womanizer.

From what I've found online, Kyoshiro's Japanese mother was raped by a foriegn father during a "black mass" (Which seems to be a cult ritual that parody's a catholic mass), which is how he was conceived.

It seems Kyoshiro is an anti-hero. He meets many women along his journey. Some who fall in love with him, others who plot to kill him. In a review of the 1963 Nemuri Kyoshiro... the reviewer states:

certainly his sexuality & his violence are closely linked. He (Kyoshiro) humiliates & possibly rapes the Lord of Kaga's favorite concubine. It is typical of him to abuse women he perceives as too proud or villainous. This is certainly a flaw in his character because frequently the only "weapon" these women have is their sexuality. Kyoshiuro uses his own sexuality to destroy women with the same heartlessness he expresses when killing a swordsman with his sword.

His attitudes against women whom he has judged harshly are in episode after episode contrasted to his attitudes toward women he perceives as downtrodden or in some manner noble of heart. In The Chinese Jade he is very kind to Chisa, for example, who like himself was an orphan.

He has a distain for Christianity and the society in which he lives... and longs for one thing only... the perfect death. His most deadly attack is the Engetsu-sappo (The full moon attack)

Best quote from Kyoshiro: "I am just someone angry at mankind, even though I am myself a man"

More information coming as soon as I find it. (At this time I can not find any news about this role on his official Myspace blog or official website.)

Sad news to report

A body that is believed to be Usui Yoshito, (Maga-ka of Crayon Shin-Chan) was found at the foot of a cliff near the Gunma prefectur where it was believed Yoshito was headed.

Also sad to report, Voice actor Kamiya Akira who voiced big roles in anime's like City Hunter, Kinnikuman (muscle man) and Hokuto no Ken (fist star of the north), passed away at the age of 63.

They will both be deeply missed by Anime lovers around the world.

Popular manga-ka missing

There has not been much in way of Gackt news since he took a break to film and promote the Kamen Rider movie he is starring in...

but there is news in other parts of Japan. Popular Manga-ka, Yoshito Usui, has been missing since one week ago today (friday) according to Japanese police. His publisher and family have not been able to contact Yoshito since Friday when he left for the mountains in Gunma prefecture. Concern arose when he failed to return that same evening, as he had planned.

Yoshito Usui is best known as the creator of the popular 5 year old foul mouth brat - Crayon Shin-Chan. A dramatic film entitled: Ballad Namonaki Koi no Uta was successfully released around Japan, and is based on a 2002 Shin-Chan Film, Crayon Shin-chan: Arashi wo Yobu Appare! Sengoku Daikassen. It also includes a character whose name is Shinichi (a play on Shinnosuke)

Gackt officially Changes his name.

to commemorate his decade long solo career, Gackt has officially changed his name, so that his new name would be as big as this special moment.

Gackt's name has changed from Gackt... to GACKT (all upper cased.)

yes it's pretty random... but that's our Gackt... Sorry, I mean that's our GACKT.

Speaking of GACKT, here's his new music video... "Next Decade"

J-Rock has lost a great musician

Versailles -

Urgent Announcement:

Though Jasmine You had taken time off in order to rest because
of poor physical condition, we received a report that early in the
morning on August 9th, he died.

Because of the extreme abruptness of this news,
the members and staff are all dumbfounded and trying hard
to accept this it. As soon as his family has been notified and
updated as to the details and we receive their permission,
we will further report to all of the fans. Moreover, with the
current announcement, in regards to activity, please allow us to postpone it.


RIP Jasmine You

Gackt is Mr. Video game again

First we had Bujingai

Then we had "G" in FFVII: Dirge of Cerberus.

He reprised his "G" character (now called Genesis) in FFVII: Crisis Core

Gackt did a few Pachinko games... Gladiator and Bounty Killer.

Now it is confirmed that Gackt will be providing the end
theme music for Samurai Warrior 3, and will also be taking
part in an advertising campaign.

Expect to see promotional ads starring Gackt in October...
Samurai Warrior 3 will premiere in Japan this November.

It is for the Wii game systems.

Serious storms hit Japan, many dead/missing

A Typhoon that killed 44 dead in Taiwan and China, and left countless others missing, is headed towards Japan which could spell trouble for our Japanese friends.

On Tuesday, Japan was hit by a large earthquake, however no injuries or major damage was reported. Shortly after, they were hit by a major typhoon in a seperate line of storms outside of this stormline heading to Japan.

according to bloomberg, there are at least 13 currently dead and others missing due to this seperate storm.

Earthquake in japan

From the Wall Street Journal -

The Japan Meteorological Agency says a magnitude 6.9 earthquake shook Tokyo and surrounding areas on Sunday.


The quake swayed houses and rattled furniture in the city at 7:56 p.m. No damage or injuries were immediately reported by national television networks.

The epicenter of the quake was off the coast of Japan, near the volcanic Izu Islands, the Meteorological Agency said. The center was at a depth of 340 kilometers and there was no danger of a tsunami, the agency said.


On the Japanese scale of measuring earthquakes, Central Tokyo recorded magnitude four, while other cities in the greater Kanto region and northern Japan scaled at either three or four, the agency said. The Japanese scale measures intensity from a range of one to seven.


Around 20% of the world's most powerful earthquakes strike Japan.


—Daisuke Wakabayashi and Miho Inada contributed to this article.


Fast Fact about Japan -

there is a tremor about every 5 minutes in the depths of Japan... and there are around 2000 earthquakes every year felt by the Japanese populus.

small request

for those of you who are new to the friends list and may not know... I just wrote a book, and several months ago it was picked up by an agent.

unfortunately, do to the ever worsening economy... publishers are not anxious to take on first time authors.

however, my agent found a publisher whose interested in my book and is in the process of reviewing it for publication! which may be good news!

It's not a done deal yet. Right now they're interested, but they're trying to decide if it is worth the risk in this economy.

So I'm trying to put together a list of names of those who would be interested in reading the book so we can go to the publisher and say... "Look! here's a list of people who are already waiting for this book to be published so they can read it... so you can see this book is worth the risk."

it's a pet/animal genre book. The content I'll keep a surprise until it is published but I will say this...

The reason I write about this here, is because Gackt is mentioned several times. In fact, there is a chapter dedicated to Gackt's (and our) beloved Belle Constantine Chappy.

if you can do me a favor... to help get this book off the ground... send an email to otakuusaradio@gmail.com (don't reply here) with your name and the state and/or country you live.

Please use your real name... or at minimum your real first name and last initial, or first initial and last name. (in otherwords, no screen names.)

If you have pet lover friends or friends who are fans of Gackt who may also be interested, forward this message to them and have them email me too.

the subject of the email should be "Pet book" so it doesn't get lost in my spam mail box.

thanks in advance for your help in getting this book published!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GACKT-SAN

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GACKT AND YOSHI!!!

July 4th Gackt turns ??? and my Yoshi *officially turns 3.

(*we celebrate her birthday with Dojo in January, but she was born the 4th of July)

News on the Gackt.com site.

do you know the flash page on the Japanese site with the castle door that says "Dears - Enter" and it leads you to two guards. Click on one of them and it asks for the dears password?

Well now all of the Gackt.com sites have it. The English, Chinese and Korean sites too. If you click the castle door on the other sites it says 404- page not found... but this is a new change so perhaps that means they're working on it.

now, I'm not going to say for sure because I don't know... but the whole "castle" idea was mostly for Dears members only... Now the English page has it... and the international dears questionaire has been removed.

could this mean the international fan club is a go? fingers crossed.

anyhoo!

Happy birthday gackt and to my Princess Yoshi Yuu

Gackt stars in another movie - Kamen Rider

Gackt to star in a Japanese movie called Kamen Rider, playing a character called "Riderman".

here's a behind the scenes look.

Gackt sings Karaoke, His own.

Gackt trying his hand at singing a Karaoke song...

of his...

Somehow that feels like cheating. Lol

New Bunraku info

This info comes from the Bunraku Blog. thanks to Karadin for allowing me to post it.















1. the new picture above, is of Gackt as Yoshi with an extra/stuntman (girl). don't panic girls, she's a happily married woman. lol

2. It seems Bunraku is now not coming out until 2010.

3. Being interviewed for his new release, Josh talks about costars Gackt (Bunraku) and Kimura Takuya. (I Come With The Rain)

"Are these two (Gackt and Kimura) really musicians? From seeing these two
work together, I thought they had great (acting) talent. I think it's interesting
in how they worked hard together and were diligent in their work. Also, if
they are examples of other Japanese actors then I think I really want to work
with others more and more!"

thanks again Karadin!

Gackt on Mr. Brain (Spoilers)

Gackt's episode of "Mr. Brain" has come and gone. It's very hard to find. On youtube, the moment it is uploaded, it's deleted for copyright restrictions. You can still find it on Veoh, if you have the Veoh web player.

anyhoo. Here's the basic story with screencaps (Gackt scenes only... Please keep in mind this is a spoiler blog.)

Gackt appears in Mr. Brain

Gackt's episode has aired... if you want to see it, check out youtube. (Unfortunately I'm out of town till Tuesday so I don't have time to go through it right now. I'll update when I get back to town.)

Mr. Brain Premiers!!

Mr. Brain episode 1 has finally premiered.

I have not yet found a translated version... but for those who enjoy Japanese film in it's raw form... here's Mr. Brain.

watch before it is removed for copyright infringement. (The last video had it's sound removed for this issue... so you'll be watching video with no sound. lol)

if you are not interested in the show and just want Gackt... the preview for his episode is at the bottom.


Episode 1 Part 1

Episode 1 Part 2

Episode 1 Part 3

Episode 1 Part 4

Episode 1 Part 5

Episode 1 Part 6

Episode 1 Part 7

Episode 1 Part 8

Episode 1 Part 9

Episode 1 Part 10

Episode 1 Part 11

Episode 1 Part 12 (audio has been disabled due to copyright)

Just Gackt's Preview

My Gackt Dolls are here!

What is a Gackt doll you say? *GASP*! you don't know???

well, here are a few examples of "Gackt" dolls.




cool aren't they? the dolls belong to friends on a Asian Ball Jointed Doll club site called Dream Of Angel.

well, here are the dolls I just got in. Now the Gackt doll looks pretty much like Gackt if you compare the face to the pictures of Gackt (especially the nose and mouth in the first two pics below.)

unfortunately, the second doll, (Gackt as Kenshin from Fuurin Kazan) is identical to the first one... but the wig is a bit big, and the skin is washed out by the camera flash, so it looks a bit different on film. In person without the big wig he looks better. (I have a new wig on order.)










(that's Gackt with my other doll, Byakuya)

Gackt in a straight jacket

(Check out 0:46 lol!)







this video is awesome. lol. Gackt looks way too scary!!


on a side note...

THEY'RE FINALLY ON THEIR WAY!! My Gackt doll and Gackt as Kenshin doll will be here in about 3 more days!! I'm so excited! I'll post pics as soon as I get them, provided they get here before I go out of town again!

Gackt's new role...

according to "The Daily Yomiuri", when it comes to "Mr. Brain"

Singer-songwriter Gackt and kabuki actor Ichikawa Ebizo both will make their first commercial network TV drama appearances in the series.


In Episode 1, Ichikawa plays a detective dealing with underworld cases and rumored to be on the take. In Episode 2, Gackt appears as a death row inmate.


Mr. Brain's synopsis:

Ryusuke Tsukumo (Kimura) was once a club host but after suffering a brain injury, he recovered and pursued a career in psychology. He's now an unconventional police psychologist who thinks far outside the box when it comes to crime and his own fashion sense. Haruka Ayase is his assistant at the National Research Institute of Police Science, where he works in a crime lab with experts on DNA, profiling, surveillance cameras, computers, poisons and other highly technical specialties. His costars also include a mouse in a maze and Teruyuki Kagawa and Hiro Mizushima as the detectives who continually seek his help.

For those who've ever seen the USA series "Monk" starring Tony Shalhoub... it sounds almost along those lines. ^_^

New Cover for Gackt's single

Cover art for one of Gackt's new singles has been released.

I'm not sure if I translated the news article on the release right or not...

but if i did... then... dude looks like a lady. LOL




Word is... these are covers for the fanclub only releases of the singles.

New Mr Brain Preview

Mr. Brain Promos

Gackt will appear in episode 2... rumor is he will play a criminal. (Judging by the crazed look on his face in the second vid at 0:42... I think that rumor is as good as confirmed. LOLOL

Mr. Gackt joins Mr. Brain

Thanks to Ryuichi-chan for the news

Mr. Brain - TBS drama starting May 23rd.

Gackt will be a part of the second story starting May 30th

more details as soon as it comes... (Sorry I've been so absent... I've been really busy with the new house and all.)

A quick apology for not answering emails

I'm currently on vacation and have been since before my last post... So I'm only getting bits and peices of news. I'll be coming home tomorrow... So hopefully I'll get back to all of your emails soon. please be patient...

PS... I just bought a house! WOO! I'm a homeowner now! Well... will be after construction is finished in May.

Preparing for Gackt's 10th anniversary

In celebration of Gackt's upcoming 10th anniversary in the music industry...
Gackt will be releasing 4 new singles consecutively

Gackt "HEVUN goblin" songs
1. HEVUN goblin
2. My Father's Day

Gackt“Faraway ～星に願いを～”収録曲 Gackt "Faraway ~ Wish Upon a Star" songs
1. Faraway ～星に願いを～
2. Oblivious ～顔のない天使～

Gackt“Lost Angels”収録曲 Gackt "Lost Angels" songs
1. Lost Angels
2. No Reason
3. Suddenly

Gackt“Flower”収録曲 Gackt "Flower" songs
1. Flower
2. In Flames

According to sources... it appears they will start being released in June. More updates on this when I am able to figure it all out.

In other related news:

Gackt is currently showing his support for the efforts to bring the 2016 summer olympics to Tokyo. He did a press conference recently... and there is a rumor that if all goes through, he'd be a featured performer during opening ceremonies.

Gackt was also forced to cancel his upcoming May Korean concert. due to the hard economic times in asia, many sponsers are pulling out of concerts due to financial hardships. Gackt has said the cancellation is only temporary. Refunds and reschedules will be discussed in the near future.

This is NOT an april fool's joke!!

On Gackt's blog and official site, it has been announced that DEARs is FINALLY seriously looking into the international fan club.

This comes on the heals of Gordie Entertainment deleting fan videos, causing an uproar amongst international fans who can only access Gackt through videos on sites like Youtube and Veoh.

I will proudly take SOME credit. lol. after all, I worked hard and 2 petitions, an email campaign, promoting the petitions all over the net, and with videos on Youtube and Veoh.

You can also thank yourselves for helping promote the cause and for signing the petition.

Don't forget the petition at http://thepetitionsite.com/1/igffa we're keeping it going till this actually happens.

So go to Gackt's official site and check out the news and updates section of the English page.

take the international fan questionaire. They're looking for fan opinions as they decide if this is the route to go.

IGFFA Petition Video 1

New Pic of Gackt from Bunraku set

thanks to the Bunraku blog for this gem.















*Update on petition: 120 signatures... 880 left to go.*

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/IGFFA

Nearing 100 Signatures

we are nearing 100 signatures!

We have 87... we need 13 more to reach 100

We need 913 to reach our 1000 goal.

If you haven't signed the new petition, get to signing.

If you haven't signed the old petition, get to signing.

If you have friends who are fans of Gackt, get them to sign
If you are friends who are not necessarily fans of Gackt, but
like J-rock and would like for other J-artists to remember there
are international fans... Get them to sign!

Sign Sign Sign!

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/IGFFA

The Petition: A vote

1. Thanks to those who've already signed, please pay attention
to #5.

2. When signing, real names are prefered, however... because
I understand not feeling comfortable... you may use either
initians, or nicknames. You are also welcome to click the box
that says "Don't display my name."

3. Please sign only once. don't abuse the ability to sign using nicknames
we want to be taken seriously.

4. Addreses are not important to the petition. They are not visible to
anyone, not even to myself... and all we are doing is collecting
names to show Gackt he has an international fan base.

So if you are still not comfortable using your address... just
make up a street address or P.O. Box, and make sure the
zip you uses matches the city you are entering, and it will
accept it. (My friend used E22205 Move Over Ave. in Detroit
Michigan and it accepted it.)

again, addresses are not shown, and they're not even important to
the movement, so while I encourage using real names, you do NOT
have to use a real address.

5. show of hands... who thinks we should move the petition one more time
to a site that doesn't require addresses to sign? or should we leave it
where it is?

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/IGFFA

Gackt Being Yanked from Youtube

株式会社GORDIE ENTERTAINMENT is shutting down Gackt videos on Youtube claiming copyright infringement.

So far, 3 of my videos including a cover I did for Tsuki no Uta have been removed with a cease and desist warning that states if copyright infringment continues, my account will be shut down. One of the tribute videos I made for my father with Tsuki no Uta was also removed. Which has pissed me off to no end. I had another tribute to my dad using "IZ"'s hawaiian version of "Over the Rainbow/wonderful world". they removed the audio but at least allowed the video to stay up. the tribute with the gackt song was completely removed.

I've noticed TV interviews, videos and tribute videos using Gackt music are slowly being shut down by Gordie Entertainment.

That means, if you are not Japanese, it's going to get even harder to get Gackt videos. Most live performances have already been shut down, some of the Jesus and Ghost videos are also MIA.

It seems to have been slowly starting in the last few days.

who is Gordie Entertainment? According to the website they are: Management of Famous Artists, we work with a variety of content productions.

So it it seems they want to shut down any video sharing of Gackt's music, or appearances, (Even though it's not being shared for a profit nor at a profit loss to them.)

More and More it seems the Japanese management of Gackt wants to screw his international fans.

Right now there are still a lot of videos available... however, it's slowly looking as if they are having them removed one by one. It seems they're targeting the older videos... (Some of the videos I posted have been there for 2 years.)

Newly posted videos, and Gackt tribute videos that don't actually use Gackt's music, seem to be safe for now. It seems to be a slow removal at this time. We'll have to wait and see what happens.

Ghost Live

Gackt stars in new CM

I think it's cute.

if it's going to fast for you it basically says at Gackt's parts... "Gackt gets from post", "Gackt returns to post", "gackt forgets to return", "No Late charges"

Gackt's Ghost PV

Gackt's new video game

It appears Gackt has a new video game out. Gladiator Evolution, a Panchinko game. I believe it's created by the same company that made Bounty Hunter.

I could be wrong about this, seeing this is the first I've heard of it.


Watch Gackt - Gladiator EVOLUTION Pachinko PV in Game Videos  |  View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

Ghost Preview

Gackt's new single "Ghost" preview. It will be released 1 month from now.

Gackt.com has a new look. Thanks to Ryuichi-chan for the update.

Read more about it HERE

It's very cool looking, but again, as usual, it's only for Japanese fans. The English version of the page remains the same... rarely updated. Perhaps they are still working on it, but I'm not betting on it.

Ghost / Gackt

Black Release - Dears only

Ghost
Blue Lagoon
Ghost (Instrumental)
Blue Lagoon (Instrumental)
CD + DVD

~~~

Red Release - General Release

Ghost
Blue Lagoon
Ghost (Instrumental)
Blue Lagoon (Instrumental)
CD

~~~

IF my translation is correct of Gackt.com's Ghost page... It seems that the DVD/CD combo is only going to be available in limited amount, to DEARS members who became members on or before 11/15/08.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


This is a good time to address the 1 question I get asked about Gackt.

For those curious... the message about overseas fans and dears has changed slightly.

Currently, we do not accept any admission from people residing overseas. We will examine the possibilities and this will be announced in this website once it is ready.

The previous message made it sound like we were closer to getting it, in some way. I don't know.

So for those who've been asking my opinion... my opinion is... don't hold your breath that this will happen anytime soon. I could be wrong, perhaps the release of Bunraku will change that, but at this time it does not seem they are in any hurry to open the fanclub to overseas fans.

I think it's a shame. However, for those who feel slighted by Gackt himself, don't be. His management and the fanclub have made this choice, not Gackt. I'm sure Gackt would personally open it up world wide if he could. However there are some things he just doesn't have control over, like the fanclub.

More news on latest single: Ghost

Thanks to Ryuichi-chan for the information

12/3発売の「Jesus」に続くニューシングルは、海外ドラマ「ターミネーター:サラコナー クロニクルズ」オリジナルイメージソングに決定。

(1) GHOST
(2) 未定
(3) GHOST(Instrumental)
(4) 未定(Instrumental)


*rough translation*
following the 12 / 3 release of the new "Jesus" single, Gackt will have the original image song for the foreign drama "Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles".


(1) GHOST
(2) To be announced.
(3) GHOST (Instrumental)
(4) TBA (Instrumental)

so it looks like Gackt will be doing something for the series the Terminator!! I'm really excited now!!
I'm very curious as to what track 2 will be .... hmmm

-------------------------

Thanks again Ryuichi-chan.

Wouldn't it be cool if Gackt got some kind of walk on part as a terminator for one episode? Lol. He'd be good at that uber cute but scary cyborg type character.

Gackt has another new single to be released 1/28/09

Gackt has yet ANOTHER new single coming out in January. (Busy busy boy). It's called "Ghost" and it will be released January 28th, 2009.

There is no cover photo yet... but I expect it will be as hot as usual.

Speaking of, just got Jesus in the mail today. the picture on the CD is very scary. LOL. Gackt wa Kowai, ne? but it's still hot.

You can pre-order Ghost today at cdjapan.co.jp. it's approximately $12.20 U.S.

Gackt-tastic Saturdays

Listen to J-Rock Us! Radio

every Saturday from now until the end of December is "Gackt-tastic Saturdays", to celebrate the release of his new single, Jesus.

visit the official station site for more information.

Part 4 and Gackt on Music Station

Part 4 of Gackt's appearance on the guessing game show, and his recent appearance on music station to promote and perform Jesus.

gackt is still cute when he tries to dance

But he still can't dance.

He also can't headbang in time. LOL but he looks adorable trying.

Gackt Appearance - Been a long time, ne?

It seems to be a series of 4 vids, but the 4th is not yet up for viewing. Stay tuned to Hydist's channel.

Gackt's 2009 Calendar

I just got Gackt's 2009 calendar in the mail. It's my first calendar.

I'm very surprised it was so large. I honestly thought of one of those small 8x10 calendars, not poster sized. lol.

Personally, I think it is a nice calendar, but I am a bit disappointed. I was expecting 12 awesome pictures... one for each month of the year... instead it was 6 pictures (two months shared the same picture) plus the cover.

And it would have been nice to have one artsy, face photo. Most of the pics were profiles or full body shots that are just like every other pic you see on the internet. Here's to examples.





So I rate my first Gackt calendar a B. I always love posters of Gackt, but I would have loved a normal sized calendar with 12 beautiful pics or a day calendar with 360 beautiful pics as opposed to 6 posters. That's just me tho.

Jesus lyrics and controversy answer

These lyrics come from youtube user keesiaox - translations in kana, Romaji and English



傷ついた抜け殻をただ抱きしめていた
降り注ぐ雨は静かな 君の涙

Wake me up
Wake me up
Wake me up
この夢から
Real or dream?
Real or dream?
Real or dream?
教えてくれMaria!!!

「殺して」と微笑みながら頬に触れた
見えない目に涙を溜めて消えて行く
Take me Out
Take me Out
Take me Out
この夢から
Real or dream?
Real or dream?
Real or dream?
答えてくれ JESUS!!!

God said when you die,
Your life will pass before your own eyes.
If you want to feel it right now，
Just do it, do it, do it!

Wake me up
Wake me up
Wake me up
この夢から
Real or dream?
Real or dream?
Real or dream?
教えてくれ

Take me Out
Take me Out
Take me Out
この夢から
Real or dream?
Real or dream?
Real or dream?
答えてくれ JESUS!!!


==================================


kizutsuita nukegara wo tada dakishimeteita
furisosogu ame wa shizuka na kimi no namida
Wake me up
Wake me up
Wake me up
kono yume kara
Real or dream?
Real or dream?
Real or dream?
Oshietekure Maria!!!!


「koroshite...」 to hohoemi nagara hoho ni fureta
mienai me ni namida wo tamete kieteyuku
Take me Out
Take me Out
Take me Out
kono yume kara
Real or dream?
Real or dream?
Real or dream?
Kotaetekure JESUS!!!

God said when you die,
Your life will pass before your own eyes.
If you want to feel it right now,
Just do it, do it, do it!

Wake me up
Wake me up
Wake me up
kono yume kara
Real or dream?
Real or dream?
Real or dream?
Oshietekure

Take me Out
Take me Out
Take me Out
kono yume kara
Real or dream?
Real or dream?
Real or dream?
Kotaetekure JESUS!!!



===========================

Please note my Japanese is poor and this is MY interpretation of the song. It may be right, it may be wrong. Depends on how you want to read into the lyrics I guess ;_;


Tightly embracing only the empty broken shell
The pouring rain is your silent tears
Wake me up
Wake me up
Wake me up
from this dream
Real or dream?
Real or dream?
Real or dream?
Please tell me, Maria!!!!


Smiling, I touched your cheeks and said 'kill me...'
Tears gathered in my blinded eyes, and then disappeared
Take me Out
Take me Out
Take me Out
from this dream
Real or dream?
Real or dream?
Real or dream?
Answer me, JESUS!!!

God said when you die,
Your life will pass before your own eyes.
If you want to feel it right now,
Just do it, do it, do it!

Wake me up
Wake me up
Wake me up
from this dream
Real or dream?
Real or dream?
Real or dream?
Please tell me

Take me Out
Take me Out
Take me Out
from this dream
Real or dream?
Real or dream?
Real or dream?
Answer me, JESUS!!!

-------------

A lot of people on Youtube are having issues with Gackt's new song. They take offense to the use of Jesus in the song, saying he's trying to mock Christianity or challenge the idea of Jesus in some way.

Wow, over thinking it much? Let me tell you, I am a church going, God fearing Catholic. As a Catholic I can tell you there is NOTHING offensive about this song.

In the video there is a man contemplating suicide. He keeps putting the gun to his head and taking it away. he's crying and obviously tormented. Gackt is playing the part of the guy's thoughts, he is singing about what is going on in his mind.

The guy is not damning Jesus, he's not bashing Christianity, he's asking in his tormented mind... "is this real or a dream?" if it's a dream, blessed virgin Mary (Maria) please wake me up. If it's real and this pain exists, Jesus take me."

that's all it really is. Gackt is giving a voice to what is going on in this guy's head.

To say Gackt is condoning suicide or challenging Christianity is just a stupid, closeminded an uneducated thing to believe. Even Freud admitted sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.

I also think this is less about religion and more about the ties to Requiem et reminiscence. the guy in the vid is wearing a soldier's uniform like the one Gackt wore during his 'Requiem' era. And as we all know, Gackt is revisiting Requiem at the end of this year through early 2009 with the Requiem et Reminiscence tour II. I think this ties in more to that than it does religion.

So lighten up people!

Jesus Video released *R*

warning to younger viewers - this is very graphic and some have found it disturbing.

Gackt celebrates Halloween

Gackt appeared (in costume) for a Halloween concert headlined by HYDE's side band VAMPS.

Daigo (Breakerz) hosted the event (dressed in a dress).

Gackt Joined Hyde on stage for a performance of Motley Crew's 'Shout at the Devil'

Hyde was vocals, KAZ - Guitar, and Gackt was on drums.

Gackt speaks to Jesus

Thanks to ♥~*みさーぴ*~ ♥ o(≧▽≦)o for the heads up on the Official Gackt Jesus pv preview. It looks awesome.

I've pre-ordered my copy, have you pre-ordered yours? http://cdjapan.co.jp

See the 'Jesus' preview HERE

Gackt's new Platinum Box

Gackt to release new single

People were wondering, with the relase of Nine*Nine, what Gackt's people meant that this boxset was his reintroduction into music. After all, it was a look back a the past... with the acception of a few songs that were unreleased such as "justified".

Now we know we are taking a quick look back, before moving forward with Gackt. While it is not yet available for pre-sale, Gackt's newest single "Jesus" will be coming out soon!!

more details to follow as they are available.

Ken Ogata will be missed

Famous Japanese actor Ogata Ken passed away last week at the age of 71. In 2000, Ogata was a recipient of the Japanese government’s Medal with Purple Ribbon, which is awarded for contributions in fields such as arts.

Ogata's famous films included the "Ballad of Narayama," "Vengeance is Mine," "The Demon," and "House on Fire". He leaves behind 2 sons, and a very sad friend in Gackt.

Here's Gackt's tearful final message to his friend.

Bounty Killer - Gackt Game

There is a little more information about Bounty Killer... the weird project Gackt is producing that looks like either a video game or a casino slot machine.

It seems now, according to this site http://www1.yamasa.co.jp/bok/ ...

it is both. This is a Japan-only PS3-exclusive slot machine game to be released in Japanese format in October.

The main character in the game is modeled after Gackt (Looking much like Gackt in the Vanilla video and perhaps a bit of his character in the game Bujingai.), and his music will also be featured in the game. Tracks like 'Another World,' White Eyes,' and 'Justified' are included in the soundtrack.

Gackt also produces this game.

http://www.blogger.com/

The above site has screenshots.

exactly HOW the slot machine relates to game play hasn't been described as of yet, but my guess... if you get three 7's in a row at a maxium bet at the casino... you win a LOT of money. If you get three 7's in a row in this game, you'll get a major progression in the game, or score a major bounty. That's the only way I can think of it.

I guess we'll have to see when our Japanese friends let us know what they think about the game.

Gackt's Nine * Nine to be released 10 * 29

Gackt's Nine * Nine to be released at the end of October.

This is a live album collection CD with a special DVD

It will cost about $190.00 US

13 CDs in the new High Quality CD format (subject to change)
1 DVD, deluxe box, and miniature replicas of the tour pamphlets.

CDs include "Gackt Live Tour 2000 MARS - Sora kara no Homonsha," "Gackt Live Tour 2001 Requiem et Reminiscence - Shuen to Seijaku," "Gackt Live Tour 2002 Kagen no Tsuki - Seiya no Shirabe," "Gackt Live Tour 2003 Jogen no Tsuki Saishusho," "Gackt Live Tour 2004 The Sixth Day & Seventh Night - Final," "Gackt Live Tour 2005 12.24 Diablos - Aien no Uta to Seiya no Namida," and "Gackt Training Days 2006 Drug Party."

DVD includes special footage including unreleased songs. *Unless otherwise indicated, DVDs are region-2 encoded (Japan, Europe, and Middle East), and carry no subtitles.

Gackt Calendar 2009

Get ready for the 2009 Calendar!

http://gackt.com/japanese/page/calendar2009.html

Also, 9 * 9 and the calendar are available for pre-sale through http://www.cdjapan.co.jp

The Calendar is approximately $22.01 US and 9 * 9 with limited edition DVD is $184.84 US.

Gackt Translations

for those of you who do not speak Japanese

but want to know what the heck Gackt's Myspace blogs are saying....

Visit HERE

I am running a Gackt myspace translation blog

The translations are to the best of my ability, I am not an expert yet by any means

but you'll at least get the general idea

Bounty Killer

What exactly is this?

if you watch THIS VIDEO

It appears to be an arcade / slot machine game.

Sound production/supervision and voice-over by Gackt

It APPEARS to be a Japanese Casino slot machine game.. kinda

That's really all the information I have on this. More will come hopefully soon.

YAMASA

Bunraku pic

This picture comes courtesy of the Bunraku Blog, who got it courtesy of cmsgackt, who got it courtesy of the volume 28 Gackt Dears Magazine. This is Gackt once again, in costume. It appears to be a screen cap from the movie itself.

Fun Gackt news

Not much news wise going on, but a big thanks to the bunraku blog for this gem.

Here's a pic of Gackt in costume and makeup on the set of Bunraku

And here's a freakin funny video of him goofing off on set.

Speaking of freakin funny videos... peek at this one! LOL

To "Joost's" Friend "Joseph"

I did not publish your comments because your comments are not only stupid, but insult me all you want, I will not allow you to insult my blogs guests.

Now as for calling your comment stupid.

You said that I call myself a professional singer but I only have Gackt's music on my site... why... well your theory is because I'm not good enough.

Here's where the 'your stupid' thing comes in..... wait for it.....

THIS IS A GACKT FAN SITE!!!

this is a site for Gackt, about Gackt, and to Promote Gackt. Why would I post MY music here? I have a personal site for that.

You also attacked one of my blog guests for hiding behind the computer to insult Joost.

Aren't you doing the same thing? Do you leave a return email address? no. Do you leave your REAL name? Probably not.

As for how hurt Joost is... too bad.

People dressing like Gackt aren't trying to make money off looking like Gackt. People who do cover songs of Gackt's music aren't trying to make money by selling CDs of ripping off Gackt's music.

He's taken Gackt's songs, illegally changed lyrics, then claimed the music... lyrics and composition... to be his own, then he puts them up for sale. Whether he sells any or not... it is illegal.

a. because he does not give Gackt credit
b. because he did not get permission to sample Gackt's compositions
c. because he did not pay for the rights to put Gackt's music on his CDs (the one that he does admit to having on his Christmas CDs) and redistributing them.
d. because he did not have permission to use Gackt's music on his CDs (the one that he does admit to using) and changing the lyrics.

If we didn't have a case, the Netherlands and Japanese copyright offices wouldn't currently be investigating the situation...

(As they are at this very moment. There has been written confirmation that they believe there is enough evidence to investigate this matter and take proper action against Joost should they find intentional copyright infringement.)

While they said it may take a while... they will get back to the person who originally contacted them. Unfortunately, that wasn't me. However it was someone else that Joost is well aware of.

However, Thank you for your comments, as hilariously inaccurate as they were.

Gackt Translations (Link Fixed)

I've updated the Gackt Translation Page that translates Gackt's myspace blogs, so check it out. Again, I translated to the best of my ability. I'm still working on my Japanese, so it may not be 100% accurate, but you'll get the main point.

Also, for those emailing me about rumored tours and albums, please note that nothing is official, and I don't want to get anyone's hopes up in case it falls through, or in case there are some changes before the official release of information.

I'll just say it appears there may be a Nation-Wide tour in Japan coming up from the end of 2008 through 2009... But there are various rumors as to what its about, and where the exact tour dates will be, that I can not confirm. So I will hold off on reporting about it.

Thanks for understanding.

Happy Birthday Gackt

Thanks to those who participated in the Gackt Birthday Special!!

CLICK HERE to see the special birthday blog.

I'll be doing some emailing to make sure Gackt gets your messages. Thanks again for helping me let Gackt know how special he is to us.

(The blog link has been sent through his official site, as a message on his official myspace site, and posted as a comment on his myspace site.)

H A P P Y B I R T H D A Y G A C K T

*Quick Edit*

The message I sent through myspace to his official myspace blog was marked as 'read' which means either Gackt read it, or someone who works for DEARS did and may be kind enough to pass the message along.

Thanks again to all those who participated.

Birthday Wishes to Gackt

H A P P Y B I R T H D A Y G A C K T C A M U I

If you would like to say Happy birthday to Gackt, please email your birthday wishes either by messaging me here, or emailing them to otakuusaradio@gmail.com

I'll be setting up a birthday blog again this year, and emailing it to his official dear's site, and I'll probably leave a link on his myspace blog as well.

You may leave you name, screenname, age, blog address, and/or email, but please... for your protection... do NOT give your personal information such as home addresses, phone numbers, passwords, so on.

Please keep your greetings to a paragraph or two.

Thanks ahead of time to all who wish to contribute!!

Cut off for messages will be Wednesday, July 2nd!!

Links to Bookmark and New Translation site

here are some important links you should add to your favorites. (The one in red is my new Translation site where I have begun translating Gackt's official myspace blogs into English.)

-----------

http://myspace.com/camuigacktnews (This myspace Gackt fan blog)

http://camuigakuto.blogspot.com (The sister site to this Gackt Fan Blog)

http://gackttranslations.blogspot.com (My New Blog that translates Gackt's blogs for you)

Note:

For the translation blog - my translating ability is still in it's newer stage, so they are translated to the best of my abilities, but the general gist is there. ^_^

----------------------

Don't forget these sites

http://gackt.com (Gackt's official site)

http://myspace.com/gackt (Gackt's official myspace site)

http://myspace.com/otakuusaradio (my J-rock Radio station's site)

----------------------

Also

http://geocities.com/drea_me_3000/gackttruly.htm (My story of how I became a Gackt fan.)

http://geocities.com/drea_me_3000/kitanaashstory.htm (Story of how Kitana Ash became a Gackt fan.)

----------------------

There you guys go. Just some updates after cleaning up my blog a bit. ^_^

Gackpoid is finally upon us!!

Hey all!

FINALLY some Gackt news.

Gackpoid is officially ready to be officially released with an offical price. (Officially).

The release date is set for the end of July with a retail price of ¥18,900 (about $176.00 U.S.)

This is the box design.

It is an anime styled god of music. A larger image of the face on the design looks very much, Gackt-ish. (Perhaps a play on the fact that Camui (Kamui) means ’hunt for the power of god’ or ’weilds the power of god’ in Japanese.)

I’m going to talk to the publisher and see if this will be playable on U.S., Canada and English computers. if it is, I’ll be getting it and will give you a review. Feel free to give me your reviews if you get it as well.

Also, if you have the chance...............

SEE KUNG FU PANDA!!

It was SUCH a good movie ^_^ I went with my brother's fiancee. We laughed, we cried, we left craving Miso soup.

Kung Fu Panda and Forbidden Kingdom. Highly recommended!!

Gackpoid postponed

the anticipated release of Gackpoid, the program where Gackt's voice will sing your compositions, has been temporarily postponed.

Set to be released mid-this month (June, 2008), we now have to wait till the middle of this month for new information on a new release date, and hopefully a suggested retail price.

Early word about the project is that it was temporarily postponed for changes, but all signs point to the project still being a-go.

Back! Some Gackt Schtuff (Edited)

I'M BACK!!

For those who didn't notice (lol) I was on vacation for the last week. A whole 7 days without internet connectivity. ARGH!! Even so, it doesn't appear I missed much Gackt news while I was gone last week.

The only things I could find came from the Bunraku blog that gave us this pic...

a possible storyboard for a scene from the movie. (no word on if this scene will appear in the movie or not.)

According to the site, there was also a pic from Bunraku on gackt-and-dears.com that showed Gackt in makeup that depicted him bloodied.

it was removed according to Japanese law as 'questionable content' for its violent implications, because young people have access to the community website.

huh. Like they don't have access to pics like this?

However,

I don't claim to understand all of Japan's laws. lol. So we're going to have to wait to the movie.

Anyhoo.

That's it for now. Just glad to be home. ^_^

Don't forget to visit my station http://myspace.com/otakuusaradio

I have a new show up and running on Mondays and Wednesdays. (My all request J-Rock shows)

Ja Mata

Ara

(Screenboard of Bunraku is drawn by Neil D'Monte )

*The picture has been removed

There are too many stories as to why it is not available online from copyright issues, to questionable content laws, to it being considered too much of a *spoiler*

I can't sift through which one is the real reason, so until the picture is officially posted again, I've removed it.

Gackpoid Information

A little more information on Gackpoid.

It will come with a rolled up keyboard you can attach to your computer (I'm not sure if it will be by USB port, or if you'd have to unplug your keyboard and plug it in where they keyboard should be.)

You use that to make your music, edit the sound, hold the key for as long as you want the note to be held, so on...

Then you will be able to save it in .wav format, and edit it later into an MP3 with an editing program. (I use the free program Audacity to change my .wavs into MP3's.)

You have the option of Hiragana lyrics, Katakana, or Romaji (roman) lettering like we use in English (abc).

This will be compatible with windows Vista and XP.

It status is still listed as "Release in mid-June / Price undetermined"
So there is no set date or price as of yet. But it will be released sometime next month.

Gackt's Vocaloid confirmed

The new Gackt Vocaloid program is going to be titled "Gackpoid"

There are sound files of the new product for download, but they are in .wax form (An audio extention like .wav .mp3 .wma) however, for some reason I am unable to get my media player to accept .wax extensions.

The New Project is set for a Mid June release - price is still undetermined, but expect it to be at least $100+ U.S.

It will be Windows Vista and XP Compatible.

If I can get the .wax format to eventually work, I'll let you know what the sound sample is all about.

Until then... Can't wait for June. ^_^

Gackt will be doing Vocaloid. I think... (Link Fixed)

Well... My translation skills aren't that great... but I think this article is saying that Gackt IS indeed going to voice vocaliod.

At least, that's what it seems.

I don't know. The translation came out kind of confusing. Lol. If you can read Japanese better than I can... draw your own conclusions.

but to me, it leans towards saying it is true that Vocaliod will be using Gackt's voice for its upcoming product.

It will be released later this month. Past vocaloids have sold for $100 to $300.

Ara

Gackt's Bunraku, and the Plagerizing "Fan"

hey all. I've been looking into Vocaloid to no avail. No news since the original April 1st News.

Gackt's official site released this pic of him filming Bunraku... The scars on his hand is mostly make up, but according to the Bunraku blog where this picture was borrowed from, the artists had scars to work with.




Ouch. Life must be brutal in that Samurai world.



More information has been released about Bunraku. Gackt's co-star Josh Hartnett gave MTV an interview explaining Bunraku. He had this to say.

"I'm going to Romania to film this movie called 'Bunraku'... all the cast isn't set yet... but it has a lot of really interesting actors in this kind of, paper mache' world, I don't even know how to explain it... its odd, its out there."

"Its a story of revenge... you know... my character is called 'The Drifter', and he comes to this world that is kind of, like you've never seen before... its more on the vein of Sin City or something like that where its not... the world doesn't look like reality at all. and it, you know, has a lot of fight sequences and all that, but its like, really about these crazy characters.. like my character is an ex... well he's a gypsy and he comes to this place like he's got something to prove, and no one knows what he's about... till they know."

So there you have the latest news on that.

For Grins and giggles I decided to check in with Joost Maglev, aka Plagerisor of Gackt, just to see what's new there.

Joost is obviously upset by the "attacks" he's been receiving, so in the forum where people were discussing his blatant copying of Gackt's music he posted this.

Dear all,

I don't feel the need to explain myself any further in public, especially since the way I've been treated is very low and easy.

So if you still have questions about my musical integrity, my Gackt inspired work, or any other of the false accusations about when tunes are written, how much money I make, and how much of a Gackt fan I am, you should have the guts to contact me privately and ask me about it, instead of going public and accusing.

For the rest, any type of accusing post written on Youtube or on my forum will be deleted from now on.

Posting it is pointless. The point has been made.

I have no intention of censoring the fact that Gackt fans think I am a plagiarizer, but the fact that many Gackt fans shout it doesn't make it true.

If you feel mad and want to keep on shouting about it, shout in other forums where people like you are hanging out, or shout at a brick wall for in the end that will have the same effect.

In the meantime I will delete all the posts here which are just offensive or make low and misplaced comments on my looks or use swearing words.

People who feel the need to use those comments usually have no strong point to get across.

For anyone who has judged me with an open mind or had the audacity to contact me personally and ask me about this, I salute you.Take care,

Joost.


Let me just say thank you to everyone whose put him on edge. At least now he'll be a bit more wary before stealing Gackt's music, cause he knows we're watching.

But I love how he still claims his music is "Gackt inspired" and not the blatant rip offs they are... and he's now deleting posts of anyone accusing him of plagery.

So I found that highly amusing.

However, he seems to be seriously upset by this, and is demanding that it be talked about privately and not out in the open which means enough fans are standing up to him and telling him stealing is not right.

I love the line about "Just because so many Gackt fans shout it doesn't make it true"... but its not like Gackt fans are out to get random people for no apparent reason.

if every single fan hears more than simply inspiration... it raises a red flag. How do individual Gackt fans who probably don't know each other, or Joost... all hear Gackt's music note for note?

And wouldn't it be MORE than likely true if many fans thought the same thing, than one or two random Rabid fans?

I think its a bit over the line of inspiration and those who know me know I'm not a "rabid fangirl" type.

Thanks to everyone who stood up for Gackt's right to have a say as to how HIS music is used and portrayed!

on a side note : He is still not crediting Gackt... his supposed inspiration... on his discography. not even on the album which debuts "Caramel" an "obvious satire of Gackt's Vanilla" as his fans say.

So obvious Gackt and Vanilla do not need to be credited. Even Weird Al shows more respect than that!

Picture of Gackt from New Movie

DO WE REALLY HAVE TO WAIT TILL 2009 TO SEE THIS!?

Gackt looks very hot. This movie is going to rock!! And you all know me. I'm not the typical screaming, drooling fangirl. But dude... Gackt looks really ultra hot in this pic to me for some reason. He looks like he's 10 years younger...

like back in his Malice Mizer days.

Ok, rabid fangirl rant over. Lets hope I never do that again! LOL!!

This picture came from barks.jp.co

This seems to be a picture of Gackt as Yoshi, the partner in crime of the good guy played by whoever else is in that picture.

And who cares who it is? Look at Gackt! I mean, Man... its like I'm just noticing how cute he is or something. Lol!

(oops. Rabid fan girl slipped in again. Not to mention, I'm exhausted. So I'm getting loopy. heheh. Sry. Won't happen again.)

MAJOR GACKT NEWS!!!!

ZOMG! Major Gackt news!!

no, we're not getting married. (Only in my dreams. ) just kidding. just kidding.

It seems our Gackt has gone Hollywood.

Be still my heart!!!!

Gackt is set to star in an American made movie which is rumored to be starring Demi Moore and Ron Pearlman called Bunraku.

the tag line is: A lone drifter comes to town seeking revenge, but soon finds himself up against a bigger challenge than he originally planned

While Ron Pearlman and Demi Moore are listed as "Rumored", Gackt is confirmed to play a character named Yoshi.

Ok... on the count of 3

1

2

3

**FAINT**

WAY TO GO GACKT!!! THREE CHEERS FOR GACKT!!

BANZAI !! BANZAI !! BANZAI !!


More info can be found below.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1181795/

http://hochi.yomiuri.co.jp/entertainment/news/20080423-OHT1T00074.htm

http://www.daily.co.jp/gossip/2008/04/23/0000969111.shtml

Bunraku is set to be released in 2009.

On a side note, Bunraku is a form of traditional Japanese puppet theater that originated in Osaka in 1684

Back from Vacation - No Gackt news

Konnichiwa watashi no Gackto Otaku! I'm back from Vacation! And guess what? I was on the set of the new Johnny Depp movie! SQUEE! (well, kind of. lol. You can read it in my personal blog.)

but I'm home and raring to go. Unfortunately, it seems nothing has happened since I've been away.

I've been watching the official Vocaloid sites like a hawk and still have found no Gackt-formation.

All is quiet on Gackt's new myspace blog.

And Joost is once again avoiding the whole "Giving Gackt credit" thing all together. Even now that Gackt has an official myspace site, you'd think he'd be promoting, pushing or at least crediting Gackt.

Especially in light of all but admitting he may have crossed that fine line between inspiration and plagerism.

However, nothing.

I have played Joost's music for several people who do not listen to Jrock and do not know Gackt, and compared them to Gackt songs. They all agree the songs sound dangerously alike.

Yet this MAJOR Gackt fan doesn't even give credit to the person he claims is his major inspiration. He doesn't push Gackt on his fans who may not know Gackt, trying to get Gackt new fans.

You'd think that's what a real fan would do but eh, I guess that's just me.

What else, what else...

well I guess nothing.

But now that I'm back, I'll keep you up to date on the goings ons.

if nothing comes up tomorrow, I have a letter written to me by a Gackt fan who'd like me to address my thoughts on DEARS, and Gackt touring the US. So watch for that tomorrow. It could be interesting.

And also if you haven't listened to my station - go here and check it out. Not only is there awesome J-rock, and Japanese Entertainment, but I try to promote Gackt as best I can by playing his music (And *Gasp, the horror, I actually PAY royalties when I use his music, AND give him credit!!)

And I always have some blurb of Gackt news during Saturday's Japanese Curry. Not to mention Gackt is my 1 most requested artist 4 weeks running. So stay tuned to that station!

Shameless plug finished.

I'm exhausted from the long car ride home (I left for home at 4am.)

so I'm going to crawl into bed and have lovely dreams of my upcoming trip to Japan.

Ta for now.

Ara

GACKT IS OFFICIALLY OFFICIAL

After many false starts by fans posing as Gackt or Nippon Crown or Dears, Gackt has finally and officially opened his myspace page ala YOSHIKI!

My heart, I think, has just stopped. Lol.

His official page is http://myspace.com/gackt

for those who are not Japanese or do not read Japanese, it seems as if Gackt, or whoever will be maintaining the site for him, will be doing so in Japanese.

I'll try to keep you updated on what blogs he posts to the best of my translation abilities.

The first blog entry thus far is...

GacktのオフィシャルMySpaceが誕生！フレンド登録お待ちしています。

Gackt's myspace site has finally been born! I wait for your friend requests.

for those who wonder if this is another false start - it was announced officially on http://gackt.com

Thank you to Yan who gave me the heads up.

I feel happy, yet sad at the same time.

Gackt making an official myspace site is great for fans like myself...

but it makes me feel less relevant. Now that there's an official blog, if they start posting in English, this news blog may no longer be necessary T_T

Oh well. This is a happy day so I'm not going to spoil it. ^_^

Besides, it seems it'll be run in Japanese, so there's hope that I may still be useful yet!!

In other news...

no new news on the Joost stealing Gackt's music front.

He is no longer speaking on the subject, and he has not returned any of my messages for comments. However, he does continue to push the album that he admits as at least 2 songs that are either rip offs of Gackt's or "Gackt inspired" with no mention of Gackt in the credits.

So that's where we stand on that.

And as for the vocaloid project, I sent an email again and once again got back a "you'll have to wait and see" reply. GAH So frustrating! LOL

also, as promised, I do have a fan story to cover about his disappointment with the lack of an international Dears fanclub, but in light of the recent excellent news on Gackt's officially going official on myspace... I thought I'd hold off.

It also seems that Gackt is starting or participating in a "Love our planet" environmental movement. Which is awesome. I still have to work on translating the site.

I've fallen behind due to writing my book and working on my radio station... so until I have the translation, you can read more here -

http://news01.net/news/2008/04/20080414142208.php

till next time all...

Ja mata

Some Gackt updates

Surprisingly quiet on the Gackt font.

Unfortunatly - despite my prying using my charm, no one is talking about the vocaloid project.

The only thing I can think of, is that they are in TALKS with Gackt, but since nothing is in writing, they're trying to keep it under wraps. but if I can get one of them to spill the beans, I'll let you know.

-----

I'm still getting angry mail about Joost and his selling of Gackt's music as his own.

He still does not credit Gackt on the CD he's been recently pushing... even though he finally admits they are "Gackt inspired." So much so that he doesn't feel the need to mention Gackt for those who may not know Gackt? A true Gackt fan would use it as an opportunity to turn new fans onto his "idol".

If you want to lay in the heat - visit http://joostmaglev.com and let him know your dissatisfaction with how he's conducting himself as a supposed "artist" or go straight to http://gackt.com and let Dears and Gackt know.

-----

Yes it is true. Gackt does have a new dog. He has long haired white Chihuahua he has named Eneru, who is reportedly 1 year old.

I do know know what the name represents. As it stands from what I've found online, he has not "officially" introduced the J-Rock world to Eneru, thus has not given an explination as to his name.

Someone has told me that he had officially talked about Eneru, but I can not verify the source, nor find the video on youtube where he does so.

But whichever way you look at it...

lucky dog!!

^_^

I've looked Eneru up and I've only found a few references to anime characters named Eneru - most notably from the anime One Peice,

and I found the world Enerugi in my English/Japanese dictionary - which means "Energy".

No pictures are currently available with the acception of this:



this is a sticker that fans get if they sign up for the Dears or Save our Dears credit cards.

I believe the credit cards are for Japanese residents only? You'll have to look into that at http://Gackt.com

Save our Dears is a charity Gackt origionally posted to help victims of the major Niigata Prefecture earthquake last year.


He continues his efforts for victims of Natural Disasters.

(Thanks to http://gackt.com for the above pic.)

Gackt Updates

1. There is still no word on Vocaloid other than... its been a week and no one has popped out saying "APRIL FOOL’s".

So if this were an april fool’s joke, it would be in the running for the world record of longest running April Fool’s Prank.

However, that doesn’t mean he IS doing Vocaloid. For all I know, they may have just been in talks with him to do it, but it doesn’t mean he’s agreed to it.

I’m going to keep pressing and let you know when I do. The third of the vocaloid series is due to hit the shelves in May, so we should know soon.

2. There’s not much on the Joost front other than he’s starting to push his CD now.

This album includes:

Artemis - Dybbuk/Lu:na rip off

and Caramel - The note for note Vanilla rip off that is suppose to be an OBVIOUS satire of Gackt’s vanilla according to the 2 joost fans that exist. (Hi Joost’s mom and dad!)

(Not so obvious if you’re not a Gackt fan. How are they suppose to know if Gackt isn’t credited, that this is a spoof of an existing song?)

but Gackt is not credited, and Vanilla is not mentioned on the discography page. He credits a bunch of other no names... "With the help of."

Well, if Gackt "influenced" this music, didn’t he get Gackt’s help? Why isn’t he credited in the list of names that appears after "With the help of"?

I’m ready to start another letter campaign to Dears.

Probably today I’ll write them again. They need to either tell him to stop, or tell us to let it go.

Until I get official word, I’m going to keep up the fight. This just bites me to no end.

as was mentioned on his forum

Rembrant, Monet, Piccasso - they didn’t live off the coat tails of other painters -

they were artists because they had a vision, something uniquely them, and gave it to the world.

Those who copy those styles of paintings aren’t considered artists... their art is considered "Forgeries" or "In the style of"...

But they’re not considered to be true visonaries. Just copycat painters living in the shadow of real, great artists.

He’s nothing but a fraud living in Gackt’s shadow.

Feel free to go to http://dears.com and write another letter to Gackt and DEARS.

Send him to Joost’s YOUTUBE page and tell him and dears to listen to Artemis and think of Dybbuk and Luna.

Let him know about Caramel being a Rip off of Vanilla down to the last note - without crediting Gackt...

and that above all else, he’s SELLING these songs, and that he use to sell albums with actual Gackt songs on them. (Like his Snowflakes 2003 and 2005).

Even admittingly using Gackt songs, just writing his own lyrics, then selling them for his own profit without permission.

and above all else... BOYCOTT JOOST!!

If he sells these albums, its just going to add to his delusion that what he’s doing isn’t wrong. A TRUE gackt fan supports GACKT... not someone who would steal from him.

Even out of curiosity... DO NOT DOWNLOAD OR BUY JOOST’S Albums!!!

Also, if you join his forum on his official site , Don’t resort to low tactics, like name calling, threats or making derogitory statemtents.

Stick to the facts, and try to show Gackt fans in a positive light.

but more people need to start posting there and telling him this won’t be stood for!!

3. Whew, yes there is finally a 3.

There are some really cute videos posted on the internet of recent Gackt stuff.

My faves are...

From Gackt’s Platinum Box - All I can say is poor Jun-Ji!!! (especially starting at 1:40)

Also from Gackt’s Platinum Box - All I can say is - Poor Gackt.

This is where they pull a fan’s name out of a fishbowl to drop in on them and surprise them.

(Not seen in the vid, they tried one other fan who wasn’t at home, left her a note and autograph, then moved on to this fan).

This particular fan seems to be a YOU fan. Gackt seems to be a bit jealous that she likes YOU over him.

I don’t think he’s use to playing Second Fiddle to the violinist. Lol!

And this video - Has A Quick clip of Gackt with his CURRENT hairdo. (Or don’t.) I think he needs to get a haircut personally.

I like his hairdo from the Platinum Box vids myself. Lol. This was from 4-4-08.

Thank you so much!

All the youtubers who bring this to those of us around the world who may not otherwise be in the know. This includes, Moimana97, to924, and Marajaa who posted the videos I used above.

and of course to our Gackt himself for making these vids for our enjoyment.

Gackt Updates

Hey all! Time for some quick updates.

First off, everyone wants to know about the Joost Maglev saga. Good news / Bad news situation here.

First the bad news just to get it out of the way. The "Fraud exposed" video was removed by Gordie entertainment due to copyright infringement.

It seems that the Gordie entertainment corp. is somehow linked to NHK which we all know is where Gackt is linked due to Fuurin Kazan.

So it looks like Gackt’s people may have been the ones who it down.

My only theory as to why is because They see... "Gackt Fraud" in the title and thought it was a video that was a video smearing Gackt or discrediting Gackt using his material, not fully understanding the meaning of the video.

Being the trouble maker that I am, I suggested to the creator of the vid to make alternate email accounts and re-post it a few different times. Kind of how when Cruise tried to shut down the scientology video fiasco, it kept popping up 2 fold.

I also told him he should title it something like "Protecting Gackt’s interests" or something that will immediately show this isn’t going against Gackt, but FOR Gackt.

I’m also trying to find a way to contact the Gordie Company who seems fairly elusive to discuss the situation. I’ve written a letter to NHK requesting their contact information, since their name was linked to Gordie Entertainment.

However, Keith on my myspace blog had a good point... the video was removed by a third party. It IS possible it really was Gordie entertainment, its also possible it was someone POSING as Gordie Entertainment.

That's what is so weird. Gordie entertainment (which in itself is fairly elusive) I can only find that it is linked to NHK, which is the company that released Fuurin Kazan.

Nippon Crown and Gackt owns the rights to his music, so if anyone would pull it for copyright issues, it would be DEARS or Nippon Crown. that's the only thing I can think of.

--------------------------

Now the kind of good news. It appears the pressure is getting to Joost.

On Artemis I noticed he FINALLY gave Gackt Credit (Somewhat.)

However, he still wasn’t being completely honest. He said he wrote the base of this song in 1994, even though the beginning rifts are note for note dybbuk...

and if it was written in ’94, why did it take till 2008 to release the song when he’s had so many albums prior to the one he is selling it on? 16 previous albums to be exact.

It took him 16 albums to release this song written in 94... this song that sounds surprisingly like Dybbuk in the beginning especially?

Come on. He’s getting more honest, but he’s not quite there.

I’ve also been noticing more and more on previous albums, he wasn’t just copying Gackt songs, he was actually selling Gackt songs on his album, admittedly so.

for example:

On his "Snowflakes 2005" he has - Track 2 composed in 2001 by Gackt C, lyrics written in 2003 by Joost D

It does NOT say, "Used with permission" or "royalties paid".

it is ILLEGAL to SELL an album with someone else’s music, or to change lyrics to an existing song that is copyrighted.

Even if you give credit, you still have to BUY THE RIGHTS or pay royalties everytime an album is sold, and you HAVE TO get permission either way. You can’t just do it and hope your good intentions have been noted.

But the good thing is it looks as if these albums are no longer for sale.

So, we’ve gotten to him... however, he’s still not being honest enough. The more pressure, the more he’ll wittle down till the full truth is exposed and he stops selling Gackt’s tunes as his own.

I have been asked...

"Ara, what if Joost has permission from Gackt to write these songs?"

My answer is... why wouldn’t he just say so at this point after being repeatedly attacked?

Its as simple as writing "Used with permission" Or "royalties paid for". Even if it were a privacy issue (As in Gackt doesn't want ten million people asking for permission to use his music for personal works), he would still insist on some kind of compensation/credit given. So I firmly believe this is all done without Gackt's concent.


--------------------------

moving on from Joost for a while.

The information I previously gave about Gackt voicing for Vocaloid... well, I started doing some digging to find out if it was true or not, since the news was released on April first, and even the articles had to ask if it was an april fool’s joke..

So I emailed the official Crypton Vocaloid site. (It was a test of my Japanese writing skills. I wrote in all japanese since it is a japanese site, so it was interesting to see if I wrote it properly enough for them to understand.)

They did! yay my writing skills are improving!

Anyhoo. The Crypton vocaloid site said regrettably they had no information or knowledge of the news, and directed me to another site who may know.

So I re-wrote the message to this site and they told me, regrettably they are not releasing any information on that currently other than the 3rd Vocaliod is being released in ’08, and to keep checking back with the site for news.

So in otherwords, no one’s talking, and everyone’s saying they don’t know anything.
However, no one will recant the information and say "its not true" either. And usually after an april fool’s joke, right on April 2nd, people will say "Yes if you figured it out, it was an april fool’s joke"

Kind of like the April Fool’s "Legend’s of Zelda" elaborate movie trailer hoax.
However, while no one is saying anything, no one has released an "April Fool’s" recant of the information either.

So it is still up in the air. As it stands, it is still possible that Gackt will be voicing in Vocaloid.

I’ll keep you all updated on all the news.

that’s it for now.

Ara

Make Gackt Sing for you!! Maybe...

ok, first thing’s first cause I’m sure you’re all going to ask.

No there hasn’t been a Joost Update as of yet. I left my address, email address, phone number and website with DEARS, and I haven’t personally heard anything.

Those of you who did email dears through http://gackt.com please let me know if you get a reply.

Remember they get high volumes of emails a day - so If you’ve sent one email and you’re still concerned about the Joost copies... write one more letter.

If you haven’t written at all, make sure you drop them and/or Gackt a line. And as always, keep it civil to show Gackt fans in a non-rabid fan girl/boy kind of way ^_^

Otherwise, Joost is still getting Gackt fans who are upset about what he did, posting messages on the "Fraud exposed" vid, and on Joost’s personal vids, especially artemis. His official page has not changed for a few days.

And while he thanks his "fans" for standing up for him, and does apologize to people who "feel" he may have taken too many liberties with Gackt’s music..

but he does also state he will continue to make music depsite the recent "negativity"

No credit to Gackt has yet been given on either his Discography page where he lists the songs and ablums for sale (where he also credits himself as the composer), nor in the descriptions of his youtube videos.

----------------------------------

moving on...

Do you want to compose music or write lyrics (that don’t rip off any of Gackt’s music...) but that Gackt will personally SING for you?

Well... look no further... Maybe.

There is a product called Vocaloid that’s been on the market since 2004 Vocaloid is a singing synthesizer application software developed by the Yamaha Corporation that enables users to synthesize singing by just typing in lyrics and melody.

In the second release (Vocaloid 2) Once you compose the music or lyrics you want sung... a synthesized voice provided by voice actors.

The rumor HERE is that Gackt has been asked to provide one of the Vocaloid voices.

However, in the article they even ask the question, being that this information was released on April first, it begs to wonder if it is an April Fool’s Joke.

It will remain to be seen when the 3rd in the Vocaloid series is said to be released (tentatively) in May.

If it turns out to be true... I, for one, will get it! LOL!

There is no word on the official site, (and here) tho there has been rumored news there is a 3rd vocaloid being developed to be released sometime in 2008.

Time will tell ^_^

Final word on "Fraud"

Don’t panic if you see the Joost blog’s disappearing. I’m deleting them because I want to clean up this forum a bit. its starting to look messy and angry. LOL.

but here’s the final, long winded detail about this whole situation.

ok here’s the deal. I have to get working on my upcoming interview with Echostream for my radio show, and I want to get back to real Gackt news, so I’m going to put this puppy to rest.

When it comes to Joost Maglev, most will conceed that he’s got a knack at writing and singing.

however... no matter how you puppy dog face, sugar coat it... the songs are Gackt’s songs with MINOR tweeking to TRY sound different.. but they are so obviously tweeked Gackt songs.

You can actually sing along to his song with Gackt’s lyrics, even if you’re hearing the Joost version for the first time. That’s how identical the songs are.

They are Gackt’s songs even down to the way he sings them. Especially the Emu ~for my dears~, Dybbuk and Black stone rip offs.

his "fans" can also say that Caramel was so "obviously" a spoof of Vanilla.

However - he did not say "this is a parody", he did not mention Gackt, or even use Gackt’s name as a way to search for his material, which Gackt supposedly inspired. In fact, when I went to his official site before starting this campaign, Gackt was not mentioned.

I searched his youtube vids looking for a mention. Nada. You can say it was as obvious as you want.

Many Weird Al parodys are obvious... however... He credits the song he’s parodying and thanks the artist who performed the original song.

And he is known for parodying music. As far as I know, Joost is not. So he needs to take that extra step to say "This is a parody of Gackt’s vanilla."

Some of his fans also say... "he’s a new recording artist. he’s trying to find his footing, and he’s just using these songs as a stepping stone."

Fine, ok, It would be one thing if he said "These songs are tweeked versions of songs Gackt wrote... I want to showcase my band’s talents and my lyrics and vocals. However, credit goes to Gackt for the composition that we just reworked a bit."

however he’s claiming that these are HIS compositions... and SELLING THEM on his official website. Before this all happened, no where in his official site did he mention Gackt in the bios for each album he was selling or even list him as an "inspiration." it wasn’t till recently that he started doing that.

not to mention, he’s obviously found his footing. he knows he like J-rock, he knows he likes Gackt’s sound.... you can emulate that kind of genre and do a song in that "Style" without making it a carbon copy of another artist.

You can still make it your own. If he did that... Gackt fans would have a TOTALLY different opinion of him. Cause like I said... many of us conceed that he’s got a good voice, and some of his lyrics are pretty decent.

And if he hadn’t yet found his footing, he shouldn’t be putting the CD’s up for sale!!
However, what makes me sad is... there are many people (I know this is hard to believe) who do not know Gackt...

so when he omits the "this is a parody of Gackt’s Vanilla", "Thanks to Gackt’s Dybbuk that inspired this song", he’s doing a major injustice to the man he supposedly admires so much that every song sounds exactly like his... Its a perfect opportunity to get new fans into Gackt. They’d see "Parody of Gackt’s Vanilla" and 9 out of 10, they’d go and look up Gackt’s Vanilla to hear what the original is like.

in his youtube video for Artemis (At least when I saw it, before this all happened), it was blatantly Dybbuk/Lu:na, yet there is no mention of Gackt, of Gackt-spiration in his description, and he did not use "Gackt" as a search tag. He ONLY mentions Gackt when someone "WTF, this is Dybbuk" ’ed him.

Every artist is inspired by another artist. And yes at times you will see a suggested hint of that inspiration in music. However, Inspriation and a hint of inspiration included in the song, is not the same as using almost the entire core of a song, and just changing a note or two, and the lyrics. That’s called stealing. no matter how you candy cane it up.

Gackt was inspired by many people. Yet his songs are all original. Someone cited there is a hint of U2 in one of his songs. Sure. There’s a Hint of it, but you can’t take that entire song, and play it note for note against the original U2 song, cause Gackt didn’t rip that song off. It was his original material, with his influences mixed in. Joosts songs are note for note Vanilla, Dybbuk, for my Dear, Black Stone.

Its not like he wrote his own notes, his own melodies, his own beats, then in one bar did a run that Chacha did in U+K. Its not like he wrote an entirely original song, then made a tounge and cheek reference to Papa lapped a pap lopped (More lovingly known as "Papa lapped a lap top")

these were note for note Gackt’s songs with minor tweeks. it didn’t seem like he was even hiding the fact that they were so blatantly Gackt. THAT’s the problem fans have.
That and the fact that he doesn’t even acknowledge that he understands where Gackt fans are coming from. He just thinks saying he’s an admirer of Gackt, is his key to innocence and that Gackt fans decided to suddenly attack him.

Why would Gackt fans attack him for no good reason? We welcome Gackt fans, and we love good music. Why would we pick on this particular person, who just happens to have "Gackt sounding music" (To put it lightly) to pick on? And 50 Gackt fans are all having the same delusion about this poor guy? Mass hysteria perhaps? come on.
One of my favorite books is "Marley and Me" by John Gorgan (notice how I just gave him credit? Wow that was hard.)

His book inspired me to write a book of my own about dogs. however, my story is not a book about a wild dog that no one could tame who changed my life forever. Its a book about dogs... but its more of an advice book based on experience as an owner and former Veterinary technician (nurse).

As you can see... I can be inspired by another artist... give them credit.. and still come up with my own material. Its the same genre, the same subject, but its not a rip off or "Carbon copy sound alike" of that artist’s work.

Perhaps HIS "fans" think we’re over reacting... HOWEVER... we are very protective of our artists, some of us artists ourselves.

Its hard enough getting J-Rock artists to acknowledge the fans outside of Japan... and when someone does something like this that could jeopardize things for all of us...

(Ending fan tribute videos, Closing down fanpages/blogs, not allowing coversongs to be created.. and getting fans outside of Japan acknowledged for the wrong reasons...)
yes we do tend to get a little "rabid." But its justified. we’re trying to support someone we admire, and tell them we’re doing what we can to protect the sweat, tears and love they put into the songs that "inspire" us.

I’ve written 4 letters, 2 to DEARS and 2 to Gackt himself. Many people I know also did the same.

So We’ve done what we can, and the Ball is in Gackt’s court now. If you have not written to him or Dears, feel free to go to http://Gackt.com and do so now.

the more letters they recieve, the better chance we have of our letters not getting lost in the frey.

When you go to http://Gackt.com , click on "Skip" cause the flash intro is wicked cool, but uh... long. Click on your desired language (like English), then in the top corner there is a link to "messages to Gackt" and "Contact us" (to get in touch with Dears.)
No matter which side of the street you’re on.

Joost’s or Gackt fans against Joost... remember to keep it civil and show Gackt fans in a positive light.

also... limit it to 2 letters to Gackt and Dears, or 1 letter to Gackt and Dears. There are a lot of us that are writing or already have written.

Whether they look into it, or say they don’t really care, no harm no foul... I’m still glad we brought it to their attention. Gackt deserves the chance to say how he feels his songs should be used.

The only thing I can say now is to Cite this:

Van Winkle’s success also brought legal and personal problems. "Ice Ice Baby" sampled the 1981 Queen and David Bowie collaboration "Under Pressure" without permission, acknowledging credit or paying royalties; Ice even denied in an interview on MTV that the song was sampled, despite the tracks’ undeniable melodic similarities. There was no public court case over the issue, but the copyright holders of "Under Pressure" threatened suit and settled out of court with Ice for an undisclosed sum.
-Wikipedia.com - Vanilla Ice

Ice didn’t really use NEARLY as much of Under Pressure as Joost uses of Gackt’s music... just the sample baseline... and he had to pay out because he did not get permission, acknowledge, credit or pay royalties to the copyright holders.

Its the same situation. Joost denies the overt similarities, he did not credit Gackt or acknowledge him until this started to come about, and he obviously isn’t paying royalties because he feels this is all "his" music "Despite the undeniable melodic similarities."
If you want to review this further for yourself, here’s the important stuff.

The "Exposed" Video

Joost’s Artemis ... ... which is a "carbon copy" of DYBBUK and Lu:na

Joost’s Youtube page

Joost’s official website -

Read his discography page, where he gives song lists of the songs on each CD he’s SELLING (where he credits himself as the composer and makes no mention of Gackt despite this.... (see the 3 songs below) )

Sanguis Christi - (Emu ~for my Dear~ note for note!)
Artemis - (Very obviously Dybbuk and Lu:na)
Magic Lantern - (A Tweeked Mirror by Gackt)

Joost - vocal, drums, bass, guitars, keyboards, english lyrics, composition

hmm. Not seeing a mention of Gackt.

I do see this in his older works, "Snowflakes 2003"

Track 2 written by GacktAll instruments on track 2 by Gackt Job

I wonder if he paid royalties for using the song on Track 2. I have to pay royalties every time I PLAY a song on my station. Same with using an artist’s work on a CD that’s being put up for SALE.

I wonder if Gackt even KNOWS he used his music on this CD. I saw NOTHING about "used with permission". If I can’t play a song without paying royalties... you know he can’t sell a song without the same courtesy.

Like I said. Kid’s got a good ability to write, and he’s got a good voice. I’ll give him that. I can’t give him a pass on the use of Gackt’s music without proper credit.

he’d have a good career if he’d start composing music that is J-rock sounding, that fits into the genre of music that inspires him, but is not a Gackt tune just rearranged a bit to try to make it sound different enough.

So read the links I’ve offered, and draw your own conclusions.

Gackt's New Commercial and FFVII

Gackt stars in a new commercial for skin care gel. It first aired this past week from what I’ve been told.






Also just arrived, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII for the English PSPs. Last year Crisis core (A prequel to the final fantasy VII storyline) was released with Gackt reprising his voice role as "G" (Genesis), a character that was also designed to look like him. He first portrayed "G" in the secret ending of Dirge of Cerberus.

Crisis Core is a prequel to Dirge so For those who don't pay Final Fantasy VII, Crisis Core is the past... Dirge of Cerberus happens a long time after the events of Crisis Core.

Unfortunately the voice actor who did the English Dub of Genesis in the secret end movie of DIRGE is credited on IMDB.com as reprising the role for this prequel as well. So instead of Gackt, you’ll be hearing a mix of a transalvanian vampire and Ricardo Montalban. I don’t know what the Voice actor was thinking.

However, at least you can still LOOK at Gackt’s likeness. LOL.

Here is the trailer to Crisis Core, The Secret ending with Gackt for Dirge, and the secret ending of Dirge English dubbed.

Gackt is a Lover not a Fighter

Recently, Gackt sang the Japanese National Anthem at the WBC title match 3/8/08.

From reports I’ve read online, I believe one of the fighters is a close friend of Gackt’s.

Thanks to Littleflapper for giving me permission to post these pictures. For more pics, visit littleflapper's blog.

Thanks to Littleflapper for the use of her screencaps.

Gackt throwing in the towel??!!

I was recently sent to Batsu jrock forum to find this news:
(Credit to Bastu Jrock forum and Trey)

------------------------

In a recent interview with Gackt in Tokyo Headline, Gackt mentioned that he might end his career in 2010.

For all of you who can read japanese, here you go: http://www.tokyoheadline.com/vol337/inter02.html

Most of the interview is Gackt talking about Gundam but he goes on to say: "For me, the year 2010 has become a sort of stopping point.

Before I reach that, I will move forwards. I like to sing and I really want to continue making things that will give a push to everyone’s backs, but I do not have the confidence to continue doing what I have always done until I die.

Even now I’m barely able to do it (laugh). I can continue with this style for another 3, 4 years; that’s why it’s 2010. After that, if I feel that I can do it, I will. If I feel that I can’t, I will get down from the stage. For now, I will continue moving forwards."

Credit to Chikotori for the translation.

--------------------------------------------------

Now, lets not count Gackt out yet. As he said... if he can continue doing it, he will.

And lets not forget his Sixth Day / Seventh Night stunt.... the year 2007 on a headstone with his name.

After all, Gackt will only be about 37, 38 in 2010, so... that’s still young.
Look at YOSHIKI-sama still busting those drums in his 40’s, and looking fine doing it!

Speaking of retirement, YOSHIKI and 2010 -

what does this say about S.K.I.N.?

Well thus far I’ve been looking into it...

They were suppose to play at a concert in Japan. (Suppose to play meaning they were a tentative guest.) However, it never came to fruition.

I haven’t found any word on an album release

And I have not yet heard of anymore American concert / anime tour dates at this time.

On the up side, no word that the project has been scrapped either... so hopefully we’ll hear something good soon.

Also concerning fans about his 2010 possible retirement, is what this will mean to an international fan club.

For many years DEARS has been promising to look into going international.

If Gackt retires, there’d obviously be no international Dear’s member concerts like he currently holds for his Japanese Dears.

If he retires, will there even BE an international Dears possibility?

I guess we’ll all have to wait and see with baited breath.

one more peice of unrelated Gackt news... I will be going in for surgery again - I was suppose to be going in on the 15th, but it was moved back to the 21st.

I’ll try to keep this site updated when news hits... but I may be a tad slow while I recoup, so send me those news tips in case I miss them.

And thanks again to Trey for this heads up!!

Ja Mata!

Gackt Wins some more awards

Gackt won 2 awards at the 2007 J-Rock Choice awards - hosted by Tainted Reality.

The cerimony was held January 18th, 2008...

Gackt was not in attendance as I believe it was a radio broadcast awards ceremony.

Gackt won Best Full Length DVD for his Best of Filmography Red and Blue, and he also won a fan favorite award for best promotional video for his single: Returner.

S.K.I.N. also got the fan vote for best new artist.














*pictures are caps
from Gackt receving an award at the
Shanghai Fashion awards for Best male
Japanese personality, December of '07.*

Happy New Year, Gackt News

Konnichiwa Minna-san! Welcome to 2008!

I have some Fun Gackt news to Start the new year off! Gackt appeared this New Years on NHK's Kohaku Uta Gassen, in a much anticipated performance.

He replays his role as Sengoku period warlord, Uesugi Kenshin... while singing "Returner", which not only had a video set in the same period, but also was his first single to debut at #1.

Gackt is joined onstage by over 300 samurai warriors portraying Kenshin's army.

A Memorial Site for Belle

I have started a memorial site for Gackt's Belle Constantine Chappi

HERE

if you would like to leave a comment of support, you may do so at that site. I'll be sending that site link to Gackt through his official site to show our sympathy and support.

I have made a donation to the ASPCA (American Society to prevent cruelty to animals) in Belle's name.

In memorium

It is my sad duty to bring this news to the viewers of this fan blog. The Miniature Dachshund Gackt once refered to as his "daughter" has passed away earlier this month, confirmed by the staff blog of Gackt's community page, Gackt-and-dears.com

my thoughts go out to Gackt. I know how hard it is to lose a pet. It can feel as bad as losing a human family or friend. I, myself, lost my 12 year old iguana, Anastasia, to cancer this month. So I understand how he must feel right now.

Again, our thoughts go out to Gackt.

In memory of
Belle Constantine Chappi
The first dog of Jrock

1998-2007

from the staff blog of Gackt's community site...

Gackt's pet dog, the miniature dachshund named Bell, has passed away.

For nine whole years, Bell has stood watch at Gackt's side since 1998 when he was in a band.

Occasionally, she would take part in photoshoots and be a very naughty little girl who ran around the studio...but she'd stop as soon as she heard Gackt call out "Bell !!!"

And then, I remember she was soo cute...acting like a baby perched on top of Gackt's lap. From now on, Bell will be watching over the Gackt whom she loved so much from the sky.

Bell, Rest in Peace...

gack-and-dears.com

安らかに眠ってください。

Gackt's New Plantinum

There's a bit of Gackt news on the frontline.

According the China News Gackt was awarded the title of Japanese artist of the year at the "China Fashion Awards" Held in Shanghai on Sunday, December 9th.

Congratulations to Gackt (whose OUR artist of the year, EVERY year.)

Gackt also has his new Platinum box on its way just in time for Christmas. And as a special gift, here is the video commercial !

Gackt and Gacktjob

To see screencaps of Gackt during his China concert, please click HERE

To see a current lineup of Gacktjob members (Which seems to be constantly changing, please click HERE

Till next time

<3 Ara

Some New Gackt Pics

I suppose everyone thought I abandoned them, ne?

no no. Far from the truth. The actuality is, there really isn't that much Gackt news.

The big news is that he is coming out with his new album.

otherwise its same old same old.

Gackt appears all over the Fuurin Kazan news blogs, his new Japanese community site talks about what Gackt eats, breathes, drinks and poops... but nothing earth shattering.

There is some talk about him doing a Chinese concert, that will be televised in China, but won't appear in Japan until Christmas Eve. Lets hope some nice Youtuber gets up there for us before then. ^_^

otherwise, that's about it.

So I didn't go anywhere... I just took a hiatus while waiting for some interesting Gackt news.

However, to tide you over, here are some Gackt pics.

one is from Fuurin Kazan where he plays Uesugi Kenshin, the other I like to call "Gackt's recent hair don't." Poor Gackt. His Stylist must have been running behind or something. Lol.

Gackt's Album's Presale

Gackt's Newest album, 0079-0088, is available for presale on YesAsia and CdJapan.

CD Japan is selling it for about $21.00, YesAsia for about $23.00.

This album will include songs Gackt has previously written for the Gundam movie series, including "Metamorphoze", "Mind Forest", "Dybbuk", "Kimi ga Matteiru Kara", and "Love song."

It will also include covers of the original Gundam Series themes, "Suna no Jujika", "Ai Senshi", and "Meguriai".

There is also talk of a recently recorded, new Gackt song, made specifically for the Gundam franchise.

The mail out date is set for December 19th, 2007.

Gackt's new Album and HEYx3

Gackt will be appearing on Hey!Hey!Hey! Music Champ on Monday 11/12/07

His appearance is to mark the release of a new 8 song album dedicated to his favorite anime series, Gundam. (For which, you may remember he wrote Metamorphoze for the Gundam Movie.)

From what a friend has told me, it sounds as if some of the songs will be re-writes of the original songs from the 80’s, no word on if Metamorphose will be included in this album.

It also appears that some of the songs (like the one he’ll be performing on HEY!HEY!HEY!), are new songs he recently wrote.

This will be awesome for Gundam otaku’s such as myself.
Although, I think the world’s biggest Gundam Otaku (Or at least one of them) HAS to be Gackt. there is at least 30 youtube vids of Gackt talking about Gundam, and imitating Gundam characters... as well as him fighting for (And losing) a lifesized gundam doll... Sorry Gackt... I mean Action Figure.

I will keep you all posted on uploads of the HEYx3 special if anyone is quick to get the episode uploaded to YOUTUBE.

The album is set to be released this December.

New Photobook and calendar

Just a reminder for those who may not know or remember...

Gackt’s 2008 calendar will be onsale 11/02/07

Gackt’s new photobook will be onsale 11/30/07

The calendar is up for presale for a bit cheaper at cdjapan than yesasia

the photobook is only up for presale at yesasia.

Suggested retail is about $27.50, it is currently about $38.49

Follow up to Furin Kazan Price Insanity

As a follow up...

I received a prompt response from CDjapan to my question about the price, however it didn’t clear much up.

their reply was...

"Hi Andrea,

Thank you for contacting us.

I looked into it.

This item Furin Kazan Box 1 contained 1st to 27th episode, which has total 50 episode. Each episode takes 45mins so it’s quite a lot in box 1.

Therefore it cost almost US$400.

Should you require any further assistance, please feel free to contact us again."

Well... Stargate is known all over the world, its a huge series with such a strong following it has its own worldwide conventions, and I can get over 10 seasons, over 200 episodes, 52 minutes per episode for $275.

and it comes with subtitle options, and a special on each DVD.

So the explination that half a show with each episode just being barely over half an hour long, only made for region 2 dvds and no subtitle options, made it worth $400 just didn’t sit with me.

So I sent an open letter to NHK hoping they will have better answers.

I will let you know what they have to say if they reply. I’m hoping to convince them that if Japan entertainment wants to begin dominating the world, they have to start by being accessable to normal pay check to paycheck joes.

personally, as much as I love Gackt - I’ll wait for his live concert before I pull any money from my trip to Japan savings.

I can’t in good conscience recommend paying that much for half of a show.

I’ll keep you posted.

Furin Kazan up for pre-order... but um...

Wow.

The first half of Fuuin Kazan is on DVD and up for pre-order on cdjapan.co.jp

HOWEVER... before you rush out to put in your order, be aware.

You will need a region 2 DVD player or computer DVD ability, and this does NOT have english subtitle options!

Also...

The first 27 episodes will set you back 42000 yen (about $367 US) So that will be close to $800.00 when all is said and done.

Why the Extreme price? Will the price go down to something normal? I’m going to try to find out for you. Fuurin Kazan is a good show, but to be honest with you all... $700 for a box set of a show is kind of nuts unless you have money to throw away.

I know its a special import and all... but that’s a bit extreme.

I sent an open letter to Cdjapan’s information center in hopes they can clear this up for us.

The letter states...

-----------------------

"To whom it may concern,

I was very excited to see the box set for Furin Kazan going up for sale, and was ready to announce it on my Gackt website...

then I saw the price.

almost $400 US for half a show? almost $800 when the second half is released?!

WHY?

I’m wondering if this is a rip off, because I can get 100 episodes of animes, or 100 epsiodes of TV shows, and Japanese imported RARE movies/concerts/tv-shows for HALF that...

For example... I have all of the Stargate episodes, and about 5 boxsets (100 episodes) set me back $250.00

100 eps for $300 vs. 49 eps for $800

Can you explain this? I can’t even imagine that being a good price in Japan...

Was it dipped in gold?! are the CDs encrusted with diamonds?

Are you going to sell a copy of the show for those of us who don’t have money trees growing in our backyard?

Sincerely, (Ara)

----------------------

So I’ll let you know what their reply is.

I’m hoping against hope they say there’s something special about this import and there will be a more cost effective one on its way.

Before flying over to Yesasia.com... Furin Kazan is selling for $383 there.

0_o errr.



Screw the special booklet that comes with it... GACKT better be coming with the boxsets for that price!!!!

Hatchi Matchi!

I’ll keep you all posted.

<3>

Gackt's world wide take over

This is fairly big Gackt news.

It wasn’t enough that he starred in the ever so awesome Fuurin Kazan...

or that he picked up a fan base of Gackt obsessed, drooling 40 to 60 year olds (and older) because of this role

or that he is the first Asain artist to release his entire discography on I-tunes in 22 countries

Or because two of his DVDs were released in America and Canada recently to high sales numbers

or because starting today, (10/26/07) Gackt’s Diabolos will be sold in over 18 european countries.

Now he gets an honor held at the Apple store in Ginza where there was a press event for his world-wide advancements.

Gackt always said he’d be taking over the world... and he’s starting to show signs of doing it!

Gackt said that he still has a long way to go, and he wants to tour Europe, America & Asia and bring Japanese culture to the world.

he was also quoted as saying something to the effect: Fans around the world have been waiting... the time has finally come!

There’s no stoping him now!

There’s no stopping him from touring the world!

There’s no stopping him from coming to America!

There’s no stopping him from giving me free front row tickets and a backstage pass to his show!

Oh COME ON! A girl can dream ne?

In other Japan News.

Gackt’s Fuurin Kazan Co-star, Uchino Maasaki who plays main character Yamamoto Kansuke, finally tied the knot with long time girlfriend and mother of his 1 year old daughter Rio, former Takarazuka star, Ichiro Maki.

They met while working on the musical "Elizabeth", and got engaged in 2006. Congrats to both!

(Thanks to Gakuhai for the pic, and to Anaria for the heads up on the news.)

Gackt on a magazine... Again. ^_^

Gackt graces the cover of this week's, Weekley ファミ , magazine. (Weekly Famitsu)

You can order the magazine HERE

Thanks to Gakuhai for the heads up.

Gackt's looking good, ne?

Gackt says, Sayonara Fuurin Kazan

Fuurin Kazan's filming has finally come to an end.

I've only had time to translate 9 episodes, so I have 40 to go... but to hear that the 49 episodes are done and over is still sad.

**Barely a spoiler... but I'll put spoiler here anyway.**

Since I already know how it ends having read the books, I'm getting tissues ready for the last episode. **End spoiler**

anyone who knows ancient world history already knows whats going to happen anyway. So its not much of a spoiler... but just in case. You know. I don't want to give it away. So I won't say WHY I'm getting ready to cry buckets.

Anyway. This is such a good show with such a great cast. Its truely an adaptation of the book that does the book justice. Kudos to the cast!!

I'm looking forward to the DVD box set release. I'm just hoping they are kind enough to release a version with English subtitles. So many Jdoramas neglect to do that when they are released to DVD. I hope NHK will not be one of those to neglect the English speaking fans of Japanese Dramas.

Go to this site to see a video of the actors 'thank-you's'. Gackt and Ichikawa Kamejiro also give Uchino Masaaki 2 huge boquets of flowers.

Congratulations to the cast!

Uchino Masaaki as Yamamoto Kansuke
Ichikawa Kamejiro as Takeda Shingen
Chiba Shinichi as Shingen's Vassal, Itagaki Nobukata

Gackt as Uesugi Kenshin

For a full cast list... please visit drama wiki.

Ja, mata!

Gackt gets 60 year old women's panties in a bunch

(That title got your attention, ne?)

well..

No news is good news I suppose.

Most Gackt news refers to things I’ve already talked about.

Gackt voicing the role of the main bad guy in the Japanese version of Aurther and the invisibles

Gackt wrapping up the filming of Fuurin Kazan

and a little talk about Gackt’s Community Site

The only NEW, news (If you can call it that) comes from This article that basically says Middle-aged and Elderly women also find Gackt hot.

A little behind the time... but better late than never, ne?

he seems to have developed a following of women aged 40 to 60 and some a bit older than that thanks to his work in Fuurin Kazan.

Otherwise, no new news. I hope that means he’s working his butt off. ^_^ what butt he has. lol.

That’s it for now

ja mata!

Gackt and Site News

Well, the radio show idea was a good one for a while, but now that I’m actually running a radio station...





I just don’t think I could stand recording a radio show AND a Gackt show.

Its A LOT of work. (took me 2 days to get my radio station up and running.)

So I’m going back to the old format.

If you still want to listen to the old news on the radio show... Click HERE

Who knows. Once I’m better at the radio gig, maybe I’ll come back to this format again.


-------------------------------


Mercifully, Gackt news has been a bit quiet.


1. There’s Gackt’s Community Site...

2. Also in the article linked above is news that Gackt is releasing his entire discography on iTunes (Making him the first Asian artist to do so.)

3. Gackt finished filming Fuurin Kazan. He celebrated with cast, and his S.K.I.N. bandmates. *Waaa* Its sad when a show ends. Especailly a good one like this! Thankfully I’m only up to Episode 9 in subtitles... so I have a long way to go.

4. There’s talk about Aurther et Minnimoys (Aurther and the invisibles) where he plays the main baddy, but nothing we really haven’t heard before.



So that’s the quick low down on Gackt news for today. not much going on... but like I said, thankfully that’s good. I’ve fallen so behind since starting the radio station. Now I have nothing more to do there till I get an audience. Lol

New Internet Japanese Otaku Radio show

Visit my new Internet radio station!

Otaku U.S.A. Radio is for the Japanese and non-Japanese Otaku alike who like anime, manga, Jrock, Jpop, Japanese Movies/Television.

Stop by and listen to the first (pre-recorded) broadcast!

Visit the official website

Gackt's Festival Videos

For those of you who remember... Gackt appeared in the annual Uesugi Kenshin Festival.

He was first seen laying flowers on the Grave of Uesugi Kenshin (Nagao Kagetora) donning all black from hair to shoes.

then Gackt then put on the costume of his Fuurin Kazan Character (Which just happens to be Uesugi Kenshin)... for the "annual taking of the feild".

He Rode what appeared to be an albino horse (From pictures it appears the horse has red eyes and no pigmentation, which is what would make it Albino.)

Thanks to some avid Gackt fans, and youtubers, we have some videos to share.

Double click on the videos to see the full size.

Gackt appears at the Kenshin Festival

Gackt made his appearance at the annual Uesugi Kenshin Festival Yesterday (for Japan that would be 8-24-07/8-23-07 for us in America).

He is seen here laying flowers on Kenshin (originally Nagao Kagetora) ’s grave at the garden temple in Joestsu city, Japan.

He donned all black, (Shirt, jacket, pants, shoes and sunglasses) as he visited the grave.

he also participated in the "taking of the feild" an annual tradition for the Uesugi Kenshin festival.

Gackt protrays Kenshin in the NHK production of "Fuurin Kazan" based on the novel, Samurai Banners of Furin Kazan by Yasushi Inoue.

(thanks to Niigata Nippon for the above photo.)

no news is good news

Hey all.

well... there's been no real Gackt news as of late. Hopefully that's because he's locked himself away somewhere and is working ultra hard at a new album, tv show or S.K.I.N. to ready himself for a S.K.I.N. American Tour. lol.

The only really news on Gackt has to do with Television appearances.

he's appeared on a few shows recently, one being Waratte Iitomo. I don't know much about that show, so I searched for info and found this on another great blog... Gakuhai.

This show seems to be the type of show where a guest comes on to talk, usually flowers from other stars are sent to them... (For Gackt... Hyde sent him flowers, I think congratulating him for being on the show).

Then when they're done with their appearance, they nominate another star to appear on the show next.

It seems, according to Gakuhai, Gackt nominated TMRevolution to be next.



the Next thing is about Fuurin Kazan. I really love this show. For those who haven't read my [ 風林火山 (gackt in Fuurin Kazan) ] blog on my myspace account ,

I've been actively promoting buying this box set when it comes out on DVD. Gackt doesn't appear in the first half of the show, its mostly backstory to our main character, Yamamoto Kansuke. I thought I'd be bored until Gackt appeared, but in actuallity, even sans Gackt, it was an awesome adaptation of a very good book. (Samurai Banners of Furin Kazan).

All of the actors do a great job, and its a very emotionally tugging story that has comedy, tear jerking moments, LOTS of action- something for everyone.

Anyway. They're pretty much done filming the series. Just a few wrap up scenes and it should be over soon.

They're on episode 36 in Japan, maybe 37 by now... and the series is only 49 episodes long.

due to my vactation, doctors appointments still stemming from a serious car accident I was in back in November, and such... I've fallen behind and am only 26 episodes into the raw, and I've only been able to translate 9 episodes to English. (I can't wait for the box set. Translating is hard work!)

But like I said, the series is great, and it would be well worth the money for when the box set comes out!! So look for it.

Here are two Gackt related Youtube vids... promos for episodes 35 and 36 of Fuurin Kazan


HERE and HERE

---

if I can find a video for the Waratte Iitomo episode, I'll post it.


Sore Dewa for now!


<3>

Unofficial Gackt Fanpage Contest!

Super Hero Gackt Contest has been cancelled

Sry to those who have sent in entries...

there just weren't enough entries to validate a contest with prizes I had to buy out of my own pocket.

if there had been more entries it would have been different, but if I have to pay for prizes, I'd prefer to have a better contest turn out.

Again, Sorry to those who did send in entries to participate.

I will try a contest again in the future so keep an eye out.

Gackt once again on Fool's Mate

Gackt once again will adorn the cover of the popular Japanese Magazine, Fool's Mate.

According to the translation, this is a special deluxe edition dedicated to Gackt, Gackt's single Returner~yami no shyuen~ and to his work with the "superband" S.K.I.N.

When talking about S.K.I.N. they called it a "rumored superband" so just how "new" the information will be, I can not guarantee anything... but they do promise pics.

For more information you can visit the Fool's Mate page dedicated to this edition. If you're looking to purchase a copy, you can wait for someone to post it to Ebay, or you can buy it HERE for $16 US.

Gackt will also be appearing on the cover of the NHK magazine. Inside are more pictures of Gackt and the cast of Fuurin Kazan.

Gackt on Cover of Josei Jishin

Gackt appears on the cover of Josei Jishin (A Japanese woman's magazine).

The article appears to be about Gackt and longtime friend, Yoshiki.

Ｇａｃｋｔキレた「ＹＯＳＨＩＫＩの悪癖」に乱闘寸前毎朝３時間トレーニングウエート９kgＵＰボディ作り

the bad habit of YOSHIKI" every morning 3 hour training weight 9 kg UP body making before the scuffle suns/size.

According to the Josei Jishin preview on their website : * Gackt: it is in the bad habit of YOSHIKI before the scuffle.

So... it appears to those on the outside who haven't had the chance to read the article, that YOSHIKI and Gackt possibly had a fight or at least, argument before the June Anime Expo concert in California.

According to the S.K.I.N. myspace fanpage ,

[quote] Even though the concert was a victory, back stage, the musicians immediately nit-picked and fussed over the tiny mistakes that went unnoticed by the fans. [end quote]

-(Webmaster of S.K.I.N. fanpage)

So perhaps there's some validity to the "Argument/scuffle" rumor. I guess it would depend on if they were fussing backstage about their mistakes as a whole, their own personal mistakes... OR if they were nitpicking eachother's mistakes.

It would stand to reason... 4 very big names in 1 band... eventually there'd be a fight for who the Alpha Male will be in a band of superstars.

However- according to blog runner: Gakuhai... Josei Jishin is not known for its irrefutable accuracy. So you'll have to find a way to buy the magazine... and come to your own conclusion.

I'll post more details as they follows.

Thanks to:

Gakuhai
Josei Jishin
S.K.I.N. fanpage

Japan Earthquake, 7-16-07

This is unrelated to Gackt news- but as a fan of Japan, the culture, the history and the people, I follow Japanese news very closely, and I'm saddened to report that another earthquake has struck Japan, killing (as of 1:03 pm central time here in the states on the 16th of July 2007) 7, and injuring hundreds more.

My heart goes out to the families and friends of those lost or injured, and to those who suffered the loss of their homes or places of work due to the quake.

Today, Japan was hit by 2 quakes. The first happened in Niigata prefecture, destroying many houses and bridges and injuring at least 800 people. The second quake, registered at 6.8 magnitude (being called a quake, not an aftershock), killed at least 7 people and injured many more.

The 7 confirmed deaths were four women and three men all between 70 and 80 years old.

The effects of the earthquake had buildings shaking on their foundations as far as Tokyo. Over 2,000 people were evacuated from Kashiwazaki. The second quake caused the closing of transit from Tokyo to North / Northwestern Japan... and the closing of a top nuclear plant.

The plant (the world's largest plant in terms of power output capacity) was said to have leaked 315 gallons of water... the water contained a tiny amount of radioactive material and is believed to have flushed into the Sea of Japan.

There was also an electrical fire that took a few hours to contain.

This Quake follows a Quake that occured Late March, Early April of this year- which resulted in 1 death and hundreds of injured.

The last major quake to hit the capital, Tokyo, killed about 142,000 people in 1923, and experts say the capital has a 90% chance of suffering a major quake in the next 50 years.

In October 2004, a magnitude-6.8 earthquake hit Niigata, killing 40 people and damaging more than 6,000 homes. It was the deadliest to hit Japan since 1995, when a magnitude-7.2 quake killed 6,433 people in the western city of Kobe.

Japan is the world's most earthquake-prone countries, with a tremor occuring at least once every 5 mintues according to news sources.

Again... my heart goes out to the people of Japan, and their families and friends of those who suffered from this earthquake.

-Ara-

Sources
Freep.com
Guardian unlimited
Canada City News
CBC News

Shojo Beat Gackt Interview

Gackt is featured in the latest issue of Shojo Beat - an anime/Japanese magazine that's popular here in America.

You can pick it up almost anywhere they sell anime/manga stuff. Amazon.com, Suncoast videos, Hot Topic, Barnes and Nobles Book Sellers, your local comic book/manga store, or on the official Shojo beat site.

The article includes an English Gackt interview as well as a few pictures from the Asian Drug Party Tour.

You can read the interview HERE at the Shojo Beat official site. Its actually a very interesting little tidbit. Its definately worth having if you're a Gackt fan. This is the magazine to have as a collectable.

If you miss the magazine while its on sale on the shelves... you can probably buy it on back order. This is Volume 3, issue 8.

S.K.I.N. Fanpage Interview

I had a chance to ask a few questions about the recent S.K.I.N. Concert from someone who was there. The answers were as follows.

Q. How many people were in attendance? Was it a decent crowd?

A. it's hard to estimate how many people were there, but it was a very good sized crowd, and everyone showed lots of enthusiasm, excitement, and pure joy during the show.

Q. Were the 4 songs performed in English, Japanese, or a Mix of both English and Japanese?

A. The 4 songs performed were a mix of English and Japanese.

Q. did they mention any other songs being in the works, or are they currently seperating to work on their seperate projects?

A. YOSHIKI has stated that they have already recorded some 7 or 8 songs. Although some members are focusing on their own solo careers as well as S.K.I.N. For example Miyavi's upcoming summer tour, as well as YOSHIKI working on an X-Japan 'reunion'.

Q. Just how good is Gackt's English? Is he as fluent as he once bragged?

A. I personally don't know much of Gackt's previous English, but he was fairly fluent, the only times his English could not be understood was when it was drowned out by screaming fans.

Q. Did they mention an ETA for an album release, or for that tour they talked about?

A. There is not yet any confirmation of dates, but there is a US tour confirmed, as well as YOSHIKI stating that he wouldn't mind touring Europe. It can be assumed (if S.K.I.N. takes priority over X-Japan) that a tour would begin around September or October, after Miyavi's upcoming solo tour.

Q. If there was mention of a tour, did they mention if it would be limited to only major places like in California or New York, if it would be mainly anime conventions, or if it would be Nationwide hitting places like Chicago, Milwaukee, Detroit and so on?

A. While nothing has been confirmed, Gackt has mentioned that they wish to top world charts, and be the first Asian group to achieve that sort of fame. And as such, it can be assumed that they would do a tour all over America. But as said, this is all speculation at this point.

Q. Anything else you feel Fans like me, who were unable to attend the concert at Anime Expo should know about the S.K.I.N. concert?

A. S.K.I.N. has thus far proven to be an absolutely amazing band, with songs varying from 'head-bang' type rock, to instrumentals with classical instruments. S.K.I.N. represents some of Japan's most talented artists. Now that they have officially begun, they need fan support now as much as ever. Let's show the world that Japan's artists can rock just as hard as anyone else. ^_^

---------------------

Special thanks to the Myspace S.K.I.N. Fanpage Moderator for the interview

Uesugi Kenshin Reawakened

On August 25th (2007), Japan will hold its annual Uesugi Kenshin festival, which will take place at Kasugayama park in Joetsu.

this is the Kenshin Festival's 82nd year (the first festival being held in 1926.)

The main rumor is that Gackt will be participating in the festival - especially during the "taking of the field" part of the ceremony - which sounds like it is a reinactment of some type. Its hard to translate that properly.

If its a reinactment, it will most likely be Gackt in the role of Kenshin, which he currently plays on NHK's Fuurin Kazan.

**Fuurin Kazan Spoilers** (for those who don't know the history.)

Uesugi Kenshin was a warlord in the feudal period of Japan - The Sengoku period to be exact. He is most famous for the battles with fellow Daimyo, Takeda Shingen. He and Shingen fought 5x at Kawanakajima, but both being cautious- the "battles" never amounted to more then Skirmishes. It was in the 4th battle, that the famous Yamamoto Kansuke (of whom Fuurin Kazan is mostly about) lost his life.

Takeda and Kenshin thought highly of eachother, and respected one another greatly. When Shingen died a few years before Kenshin... Kenshin mourned the loss of his greatest rival, weeping openly, and swearing to never attack Takeda land. He eventually became a Takeda Ally, not long before his own death.


for more information on this festival, please visit the links below

Kenshin Festival
Kenshin Festival 2
Pronweb Watch article


for more information on Uesugi Kenshin, for whom this festival is held... please visit these links

My Brief Kenshin report (Rumors and Facts)
Uesugi Kenshin (Nagao Kagetora) Wikipedia


Purchase Samurai Banners of Furin Kazan, a great book

HERE


Purchase the original 1969 movie

HERE

American/Canadian Gackt DVD release!

According to VIZ pictures official site...

they're set to release an American copy of Gackt's greatest Filmography RED, 1999-2006.

This will include English subtitles for the first time!

On the DVD will be:

Another world
Oasis
Secret Garden
Redemption
Mizerable
Black Stone
Seki-Ray
Vanilla
Dreams you Pursued
Mirror
Never Forget you
and Metamorphoze

It will be out on October 9th, and will retail for $19.98 US / $29.99 Canada.
The DVD will be a region 1 release... Canada/US only.

Thanks to N.A. Dears for the heads up on this DVD!

The Amazing Invisible Gackt

Gackt will be a cartoon! Just, sadly not of the Gundam kind. (I've really been pushing for that poor guy to get his own Gundam anime... but sadly, it hasn't happened as of yet.)

but he can do the next best thing with Arthur et les minimoys (English title: Arthur and the Invisibles).

Gackt will be voicing the Character of the evil Wizard Malthazar (who has been likened to a slightly less scary version of Harry Potter's Lord Voldemort.)

the voice was portrayed in the English version by another famous rocker- David Bowie.

Before you run out to buy the "Arthur and the invisibles" movie... keep in mind that the Japanese version is not on the currently released dvd. It will be released as a feature film in Japan in September of this year, so you'll have to wait to get that version on DVD when it is released later on either at the end of this year, beginning of next year.

Happy Birthday to Gackt

Gackt Camui turns 467 years old on this day!

Or 34.

Depends on how old he wants to be this year.

Happy birthday to our hero Gackt!

Recently, I gathered a few fan letters that mutual fans I know wrote for Gackt, and placed them on a tidy little webpage I decided to call a virtual card. Then I forwarded those birthday wellwishes to Gackt via his official website (Which is actually now simply Gackt.com)


Speaking of his official site - besides the shorter and easier to remember URL, there is also a new hot look for fans to enjoy!

I'm still waiting for them to Jazz up the sites for the other languages (they have Korean, English, and Chinese besides the original Japanese)... but... at this point, I'm just happy they even added an English version of the site at all.

That means, perhaps, we're one step closer to an international Dears fanclub?

S.K.I.N. News

According to a recent Japanese article, (which can still be read here), Gackt's new project with Yoshiki, Sugizo, and Miyavi... S.K.I.N. performed to a very happy crowed at California's Anime Expo.

S.K.I.N. (created by former X-Japan member Yoshiki), performed 4 original songs at that night's events to a screaming crowd. Much to the crowd's surprise and delight, lead singer Gackt himself M.C.'ed the event, IN ENGLISH! Yoshiki was on Drums, (And the piano for one song with Gackt), Miyavi and Sugizo headed up the guitars.

Also, (while this isn't mentioned in the article) Gackt's own Ju-Ken from GacktJob, helped the band out on bass.

When it comes to the "take over the world" tour Yoshiki talked about in many interviews... it could be a while before we see it.

Gackt is working on several projects, Miyavi is about to embark on his solo tour, and there is a much anticipated reunion of Xjapan's existing members for a reunion.

however, it is rumored that at the end of the concert Gackt said to the crowd "We'll definately be back" or something to that extent.

I suppose Time will tell.

Thanks to phamousfotos.com for the S.K.I.N. pics