Visual Kei goodies!? Band Merchandise (vol. Accessories)

Hi guys! I'm back today (I totally forgot to post about my other blogpost being up....) with something a little different from the usual. 

As many of you might know I'm a big fan of Visual Kei, ever since my trip in 2013 I've been starting to listen to more indie bands and feel my money depleting away ever so slowly. /weeps

During my trip last year, this year and other instances such as Visual Kei band lives in Singapore, webstore shopping...I'm proud (not my wallet however) to own a wide variety of stuff now, although these are only from several bands that I listen to and not all!

I figured that since I've never blogged about them before and people love seeing my Visual Kei stuff that I do one today instead of the usual September Project posts :) Of course, I'll still be continuing on that, in the subsequent posts!

Introducing to you part of my Visual Kei collection, the accessories! :)

I need more of these really.

What I own:

SuG scrunchie ; bandana

LEZARD scrunchie

landz. scrunchie ; star necklace

LM.C bandana ; light bracelet ; MIDI rings

Alice Nine light ring ; MIDI ring

ViV light rings

It's a pity that I don't usually use head accessories. I found the SuG bandana in Closet Child Harajuku back in 2013. I really like Closet Child (you should give it a visit when you're there!), you can get lots of secondhand stuff there at reasonable prices. Ranging of CDs to magazines to band merchandise, of course! 

The LM.C bandana on the other hand was bought when I went for their live at Shibuya AX in March 2014. It was a VisuAni event, and my friend and I actually got the tickets before the whole line-up was out. So when Gaijin John-san announced that LM.C would be one of the bands playing...gosh I went bonkers. Haha!

Love the designs. SuG's is from Thrill Ride Pirates whilst LM.C's from Perfect Fantasy!

It was my first time watching LM.C in March (I missed their live with SuG in 2010), and although I was pretty far behind it was a good experience all in all. I also watched Jin-Machine for the first time at that live, they're pretty ridiculous. But they play good music. HAHA!! If you like Golden Bomber's music style, you should give them a try!

How I wore my SuG bandana to the Update Ver. 0 live-screening

I like to wear my bandanas either as a scarf or a bunny-ear head accessory, though the latter is only because Maya does that with his bandana as well.

How I wore my LM.C bandana in Japan :3

Of course that's not all, I bought quite a few things from LM.C's goods table because it's not everyday I get to buy from them, right? My friend broke her umbrella because of the crazy wind that day so I bought an umbrella...although it wasn't even raining after the live.

LM.C and Alice Nine's midi rings!

Bands deciding to produce MIDI rings as merchandise is probably the worst news for my poor wallet. I love collecting accessories, so I really couldn't take my eyes of the LM.C MIDI rings when I saw them...I actually overlooked them at first. TT__TT /could have saved money

I used to own another Alice Nine MIDI ring, but I lost that on the flight to Japan in March. So to console myself I bought the LM.C MIDI ring set, which only cost 600yen, surprisingly. Both designs are the same except one is gold-accented and the other, silver-accented.

I also own the Alice ring from Supernova Symphonia's Ali-can. I have the Nine ring as well, but I gave that as a present to my friend.

Beautiful rings ;3;

It was a miracle that I actually got the Alice Nine MIDI rings, they were by random! However I don't usually wear gold-accented accessories and the Ali-cans actually sold out before any of the Standard ticket holders could get them, so I wanted to share some joy with my friend. Hehe.

Besides MIDI rings, there's the normal size rings (they don't look normal sized I know) of course!

However these rings aren't just any kind of rings, they're light-up rings for live performance use. I wasn't supposed to buy the Supernova Symphonia ring but my itchy hands said "BUY IT".

Alice Nine and ViV's light rings!

There's generally 2 types of the light-up rings, one is the plastic, box type (Alice Nine's) that has a standard light. Usually bands that play more of the generic, or hardcore Visual Kei music would have this kind of rings as their merchandise.

It glowssssss!!!!

On the other hand, the rubber type that comes in various colours and shapes are the flashing light rings. Usually bands that play Oshare Kei, or Kira Kira Kei music use this kind of rings! To name a few, ViV, Kameleo...

The flashing light rings are usually more generic in design so you don't need to be afraid of people calling you out for using another band's merchandise at a live. Though honestly, I don't think it matters. The bad thing about these, though is that it can melt or mould under heat. So those who own these rings, take good care of them!!

Another bad thing there is about these rings is that you can never change the batteries, which is a bummer. But I guess that's how the bands keep getting fans to buy more! :x

LM.C's light bracelet and landz.'s light necklace

There's never something called too much light! I'm not sure why I bought these either but I do wear them to various lives for the sake of being shiny. Haha!

I double up the landz.'s light necklace as a normal necklace sometimes. What I like about it? It has 3 different light modes, so depending on the tempo of the music you can adjust your necklace's light mode to suit it. Cool, huh? I think I used to have something similar in kindergarten, actually. xD

L > R: landz., LEZARD, SuG's scrunchies

I still don't get the function of scrunchies at lives, truth to be told. But I'm obsessed with these stuff because I love accessories. I do use them for my hair, but these lovelies double up as pretty "bracelets" as well.

Fashion inspiration anyone?

Out of the 3 scrunchies that I own at the moment, my favourite is the landz. scrunchie. They actually have 4 different designs, this one being Towa's design. The tag used to say landz. on it but as I use it too often the tag has already faded...

Why I love it? It's made of red velvet. I think it's really rare to find scrunchies made using velvet cloth. I fell in love with it when I saw Towa wearing it on his wrist at the live I first saw landz. at, so even though it was my first time seeing them I just had to buy it. xD Which is a decision I don't regret, landz. is disbanding in October so I won't be able to ever see them again, so I'm happy I decided to buy their merchandise that day.

Unfortunately, no giveaways! (yet?) I'm trying to sift through my collection to see if I have anything up for giveaway, so stay tuned for more! 

And with that, I'll see you in my next September Project blogpost! 

Thanks for reading as usual and bye!~

♥~Yumi.

August 2013 Japan Trip: Lives, Shopping, Friends, Loads of Fun! Part 4

Hello my readers!

I'm sorry for not updating for the past 2 days, I've been really tired especially after choir practices which I am heading to right now as well. sigh.

                                                

But!! Promise is a promise ☆ 

I shall shut up and start my blog post now, LOL

DAY 3 : ALICE NINE WORLD'S END DAYBREAK #2

~OKYAKUSAMA DAIICHI SHUGI~ 9TH ANNIVERSARY LIVE  

that was long

Before I begin, I want to first leave a note that there are much better live reports floating around the internet as well as screenshots from the livestream on NicoLive.

This is just a version of my experience before, during and after the live ☆

  

Still remember the pants I bought from 109? I was wearing it! Hiroto cosplay haha. I forgot my eyelid tape in Singapore, so I had to buy eyelid glue in Japan... and oh my goodness I took forever to do it! >__< Luckily it worked eventually, haha!

Makeup complete!

Hiroto wig on ☆

Coordinate for Hiroto Cosplay ♪ Black Period T-shirt, cardigan and Murder License jeans!

We headed out to mos burger for breakfast after that ☆ Honestly I wonder if the cashier woman could remember me from all my looks everyday...LOLOL

i only took pics of my breakfast today that's why i'm sharing them with you. I practically ate the same thing everyday for breakfast so...yea. 8D

Mazu and I arrived at Shibuya quite  early, so we stopped at Marui City to watch the Alice Nine Countdown Live being played on the screen, heh. In contrary to what I imagined, the screen at Marui City was really rather...small.

I met Charlie afterwards and we went back to Marui City to find Mazu, where we waited for the staff to give out the free fans...

In front of us were people doing Alice Nine's designed gellish nails. I swear the price was crazy, over $100 just for that? no thanks.

The nail seals however are super cute! ;u;

This isn't mine by the way

After getting our fans...which I desperately squeezed to the front to get HAHAHAHA it's good being small

Charlie, Mazu and I headed over to Shibuya Public Hall or also once known as CC Lemon Hall. We got lost at first because Charlie is such a bad guide.

I was surprised when we reached there because the queue was surprisingly short! It's mostly because of what I've experienced in Singapore at Sundown Festival as well as what Mazu told me about Gazette MELT that made me imagine that the queue would be really long, lol =A=

Let me tell you something :I

I think Saga cursed me that day or something.

I got so much of Saga!? I wish I took a picture of it before I traded all the cards away. I bought 9 cards, and 6 of them were Saga. i know right. And I'm not even a Saga fan! x(

Also I realized that a lot of other fans were trying to give away their Saga cards as well. Saga is surprisingly unpopular amongst the Japanese Number Sixes ówò Charlie said it's probably because of his mindset, how he likes beautiful women more than cute *lol*

I also met loads of new friends! They're all non-Japanese fans as well. 2 of them are English teachers in Japan, haha! 1 is currently studying there in Yokohama. The other 3 were there on vacation, if you exclude Charlie LOL

Ashleigh aka pandomi

Alison aka lovemiku

Patricia aka cherry1608

Rachael aka merorororin/fuu-rin

Denise

Sachi

Oh, and Charlie aka Shoucolate who I already met on my first day in Japan. Do you guys know any of them? :P

Queuing with Charlie for merchandise! It drizzled a little, haha.

Obligatory selca of myself kk

Mazu, Rachael, Sachi, Denise, Patricia, me and Charlie!

Al and Ashleigh weren't paying attention

Credits to Mazu for the picture ♪

After...much contemplation. I brought my Saga cards around to trade. I managed to trade away most of them except one 8'D But the fans were really nice, they'll ask you who you're looking for, then check their cards for your bias, and trade with you! But Saga was really hard to trade away 8'D

After a lot of trading, my final product ☆

Oh, there's an extra Alice in Wondercurry Shou card too <3

I'm showing you because for some reason they all went missing, which made me really mad because it disappeared in the hotel room.

Because Mazu bought our tickets through GFC, we got really good tickets at Row 9 ☆ ...On Saga's side. i know right.

The 2 people directly in front of me were 2 Alice Nine cosplayers as well! Saga and Hiroto version Court of 9 #4 x) I followed their actions throughout the live. ♡ However the girl to my north east direction...I wonder why she was even at the concert. Throughout the live she was minding her own business, she even went off somewhere halfway through! I was so mad at her.

Although we actually weren't to take any photos *lol* Here's one we took before the live ☆

Credits to Mazu!

Charlie sat beside me. Whee!

                                      

At 5.30, actually later than that...the lights dimmed, and it began...

ALICE NINE

[L > R] Hiroto (gu.), Tora (gu.), Shou (vo.), Saga (ba.), Nao (dr.)

Before I continue with the report, for the sake of my non-A9 fan readers, I will do a small introduction of A9, since they are the highlight of my whole Japan trip after all! HAHA ♡♡

-pic-

Alice Nine is a band signed under Peace Smile Company, which is famous for other bands such as The GazettE. They have been around since 2004, which makes 2013 their 9th year as Alice Nine. Some recommended songs of theirs that I know can be found on youtube are

Mainstream:

Senkou

Niji no Yuki

Heart of Gold

Indies:

Kowloon ~Nine Heads Rodeo Show~

Heisei Juushichinen Shichigatsu Nanoka

Number Six

Also if you want to know more about them (and see their funny side), check out Arisu9Channeru on Youtube as well ;)

                                   

SETLIST

1. Shunkashuutou
2. Velvet
3. TSUBASA.
4. blue planet
5. Affection
6. RAINBOWS
7. Scarlet
8. Haikara naru rinbukyoku
-MC-
9. Zankyou WHITEOUT
10. Gekkou yoku
11. Waterfall
12. Heisei Juushichinen Shichigatsu Nanoka
13. Mugen no Hana
14. Daybreak
15. Q.
-MC-
16. KOWLOON-9 HEADS RODEO SHOW-
17. DEAD SCHOOL SCREAMING
18. the Arc
-ENCORE-
-MC-
19. Hana
20. Heart of Gold
-MC-
21. the beautiful name

I'm only going to cover the interesting things that happened during the live, heheh ☆ (and the MC) You probably don't need me to tell you that all 5 of them were amazing on stage already ♥♡♥♡

During Blue Planet, I was squealing over the last part because that ShouTora moment was sooo cute! (as a brOTP.)

Shou was singing to Tora the last line of Blue Planet and then they high fived.

The gif is everywhere on tumblr, you should check it out ☆

Also if you watched the livestream on NicoLive, you'd realize that Tora took off his jacket halfway through the live...but there was a part which they did not stream which was Tora taking off the jacket. For some reason, the jacket was extremely tight and refused to come off, LOLOL. A backstage crew member was practically pulling so hard on the jacket while Tora was running forward but it was STILL STUCK ON! Charlie and I were laughing so hard. Charlie drew a comic about it too, check it out on her tumblr ↓↓

→ Shoucolate ←

During Haikara, Saga jumped down the stage during his bass solo! I'm not a Saga fan but...that doesn't stop me from going crazy during the live! Because I was right at the aisle together with Charlie and Mazu, both of us reached out for him! Charlie and Mazu got to touch his arm. I on the other hand, felt some cloth...

...I touched his chest I'M SORRY SAGA I DIDN'T MEAN IT OMG

During the encore, Tora came out first and he was complaining how he's always the first out...HAHA

But what was more hilarious was when he said

"My father..."

and everyone practically TURNED AROUND TO TRY SPOT HIS FATHER IN THE HALL BUT THEN

"...isn't here."

"You guys got tricked didn't you!"

GDI TORA

Shortly after Nao joined him onstage, with his fabulous glasses

Those glasses

And Saga as well.

Saga started talking about how Nao's parents were here (they really were, HAHA! Over the 2nd floor box at Tora/Saga side) and how Nao's brother was not.

And also about how Nao's brother's girlfriend was supposedly really beautiful!

He really beat around the bush there, and Tora was just like "Just what are you getting at exactly?" in which Saga replied "I want to see Nao's brother's girlfriend."

Saga please HAHAHAHAHAHA

I forgot what got Nao talking about this, but he was telling us about how when he was playing the drums on stage just now (I should've noticed ahhh) he did something that he usually only does during practices in the studio, but he totally forgot that they were really holding a live at the moment.

After he finished playing a song he'd flex his arm muscles to see how they are, HAHAHA! I can't believe I missed seeing that moment on stage! Nao re-enacting it out for us was mighty hilarious, though.

By the time Nao finished talking Tora was calling out for help from Shou and Hiroto, who came in with their arms around each other's shoulders, it's adorable I know!

Hiroto proceeded over to his guitar and amp, and when Shou was about to begin MC, Hiroto pulled out his digicam and told everyone to pose for the camera and his side of the hall literally went dead quiet. While all the other members were just staring at him HAHAHA

Shou then gave a little comment that Hiroto is very my-pace. ☆

Basically after that, Shou began Alice Nine's extremely emotional talk about how they felt so grateful etc but the funny part was when Saga decided to go up to the electronic keyboard and play a tune as BGM. Shou looked back at Saga and he stopped playing for a moment, after which Shou told him he didn't need to play any BGM, but when Shou turned back to the audience to continue his MC Saga started playing again. asshole I know

When Shou passed the MC time over to Nao, I forgot for what reason >__<, Saga stopped playing the keyboard and went to tune his bass. At the very moment Nao started talking. Everyone was laughing so hard, Nao was baffled, and all Saga said was "It felt appropriate for the timing."

If you probably guessed after Nao's MC time was up and Shou continued his MC again Saga started playing on the keyboard once more. Shou was laughing a lot ♡

After the beautiful name, which was the last song they played that night, Alice Nine announced their next live tour, which you can check out at their Official HomePage~

(I cried at the beautiful name by the way but who doesn't cry at the beautiful name)

The whole concert ended around 8.30PM, so after getting flyers from the bands who were around the area uwu ♡ Charlie, Rachael, Patricia, Ashleigh, Alison, Mazu and I headed for dinner. Oh, Mazu's friend also joined us after the live. :3 Sachi and Denise didn't join us because it was too expensive.

Picture with Charlie ohoho

Picture with Rachael

Credits to her~ hehe

So we saw Sadako on the way back

Charlie was trying to take a photo

But Rachael and I decided photobomb

I look fabulous

This random group of Japanese people wanted to take a photo with us!

They also said Sadako isn't scary, it's comical horror.

And that more or less summarizes my day at Alice Nine's Anniversary Live.

Even though Alice Nine didn't sing all of my favourite songs, I was still really touched to see them on stage, in real life, on such an important day. The last time I saw them was at Sundown Festival last year, haha! Where I got to shake Shou, Nao, Tora and Saga's hands ☆ Though I admit that I was slightly displeased because even though I was at Row 9 it was still quite far behind.

Meeting new friends there was really heartening as well, I still keep in contact with them you know! Especially Rachael x) ♪

I really want to go for another Alice Nine concert, but I guess that will just have to wait, haha ☆

Thank you for such a wonderful 25 August 2013.

Best concert experience ever in my entire life ♡

♥~Yumi.