For Late Night Romance...

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Courtesy of a friend of ours.

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The Minority Report

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Blog-Tick is not a discussion forum.

Because under the normal order of things, we frankly don't care what you think, except insofar as it can be wittily mocked...am I right? (No no just kidding, we love all lets enjoy please come on yeah!!)

But, it's been a little quiet on here lately, so I've decided to start a discussion thread for once.

In the name of understanding my readership better, I invite you to share your personal stories, on two topics:

1) If you were not introduced to Buck-Tick through "Dress," how did you discover the band?  What year was it when you first heard a Buck-Tick song, and what song was it?  How old were you then, and how old are you now?

2) If your favorite band member is not Acchan-chan, who is your favorite band member, and why?

Please be concise.  Brevity is the soul of wit.  No more than five sentences, unless you have a really funny story to tell.  

If you were introduced to Buck-Tick through "Dress," and your favorite member is Acchan-chan-sama-chan, post a comment containing nothing but the words "you got me."

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Oh My Funny

Um.  Happy Valentine's Day.

I hope you're either single or separated from your lover, just for tonight, because being coupled is too cliche.  And misery makes much better music.

Also, if you're single you can watch the Dress PV on repeat ALL NIGHT LONG without anyone being able to stop you from wondering how much hotter Acchan would be if he were a girl amirite? (Puts new meaning in the phrase "lipstick lesbian.")

The only problem is, there's no one there to give you chocolates.

Except me.

And by "chocolates," I mean, "macros."

Here they are.

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Shoplifters Will Be Perscuted

In Pure Sound Osaka, which is the single best, most comprehensive dealer of visual kei CDs, DVDs, associated tour crap, and goth-loli clothes in all of Japan, the following sign can be found on the wall of the clothing section.

An English approximation of the text: 

You SHOPLIFT, we go TEH POLICE.

Toll: shoplifting is too lame lol

Imai: If u shoplift ur an asshole lololol

Gothlolis...

do u think wearing clothes you stole is fun

lulz

Cuz ur never gonna settle out of court.

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But for me, the tactical effectiveness of this is all about that look on Mr. Sakurai's face.  You said you wanted him to eat you?  Well....betcha didn't want him to LITERALLY EAT YOU.  At Pure Sound, if you shoplift, you are RAPTOR BREAKFAST, you hear?

Clearly, someone on the Pure Sound staff is a Buck-Tick fan.  The album booklet for Seventh Heaven is also taped to the door of the changing room.

Yumemiru Uchuu Live Report

A live report of the ENTIRE Yumemiru Uchuu tour is now up over at Not Greatest Site.  I know, it took me a long time to write.  In my defense, the live report itself is long.  But, I promise you, it's a good one.  And it contains sex jokes (I know how much you guys like those!)  So you should read it.  Feel free to leave you comments here.

Tripping with Buck-Tick

This post mostly goes to BTZone from Livejournal, re Buck-Tick live tours and Okinawa. (BTZone, I hope your site gets well soon!)

1) Buck-Tick no longer travel with a convoy of three trucks.  Now there's only one truck (albeit, it's a giant one.)  And, to all you confused fangirls, the band members do not travel in the tour truck.  The tour truck carries the sets.  The band members travel separately.  Do not try to stalk them on their travels or they will hate you forever.

2) The monorail in Naha is useful, but only if you're in central Naha.  When I was in Naha it was mostly locals riding it, not tourists.

3) With regard to the Tottori thing, Buck-Tick claimed they made special arrangements with their staff to hit all the Japanese prefectures on the Yumemiru Uchuu/Cosmic Dreamer tours.  It was part of the 25th anniversary deal, they discussed it in the fanclub newsletter.  However I notice that they skipped out on Fukushima prefecture and a number of others including Shimane, Akita, Yamagata, Iwate, Kagoshima, Toyama, Fukui, Yamaguchi, Yamanashi, Wakayama, Mie, Aomori, and in fact, Kyoto...possibly because Imai and Toll have both demonstrated they can't label most of these prefectures on a map, but also probably because almost no fans live in any of them...these being the most sparsely populated regions of Japan to begin with (Kyoto being the exception but they played two days in Osaka and Kyoto's only half an hour from Osaka by express train.  BTZone I know you know this stuff, this is for the general audiences.)  So I guess what they meant is, they made special arrangements to hit all the main islands and regions of Japan, thinking that surely the three members of the Shimane fanclub could make it to Tottori for the weekend.  According to the fans I spoke to who followed the entire tour, the halls in small cities were not sold out and many of the local fans came over quite silent, though it's impossible to tell whether their silence was the result of a lack of enthusiasm or too much enthusiasm.

4) For what it's worth, I checked, and Oita T.O.P.S. Bitts Hall, at which Buck-Tick are playing in two weeks, can also be rented for weddings, fashion shows, and AKB48 cosplay events.

5) To all of you who don't live in Japan and haven't been to Japan: domestic travel in Japan is one of the wonders of the modern world!  From Toyko, flying to Okinawa only takes about as much time as riding the bullet train to Osaka.  The cost is about the same too.  However, neither are cheap...that's really the only issue.  Even so, I would advise anyone who can manage to to take the bullet train or a plane rather than an overnight bus if you can possibly manage it.  Overnight buses take hours, they're the most uncomfortable vehicles known to man, and there have recently been a bunch of exposes about how sketchy the bus companies' management is, how the drivers are overworked and underpaid and in some cases drive sleeping or drunk.  You've been warned.

That was my five cents.

The Cosmic Dreaming Continues...

The Cosmic Dreamer Tour continues, accompanied by the Fish Tanker's Only 2013 Tour.  Though I haven't known Buck-Tick to do much with sets for standing tours, this tour is an exception, and they even have a tour truck!  Ladies and gentlemen, just look at that hat. Could you say no to that hat?  I thought not.

The ironic thing about the giant set for this tour is, Buck-Tick spent all of last summer playing outdoor gigs that got rained on.  So what do they do?

They bring the rain INSIDE, of course.  Ladies and gentlemen, this set includes a RAIN MACHINE.  

To make it RAIN.

ON THE STAGE.

In fact, they've been making it rain in a perfect circle surrounding Mr. Sakurai, so he can get his fingers wet without getting his feet wet, so he can taste test the waters without getting in over his head, so he can put in a few fingers without the whole fist, so he can get moist without sopping, so he can take a dip without fear of a deluge...who are we kidding, we know this guy likes rain.  And, as they always say, no rain, no gain.

But two weekends ago in Yokohama, as he was wearing some very fine (read: expensive) leather trousers, our waiting for him to finally give up the teasing and just step right through that cold shower curtain into the open arms of the fans was all in vain.  He didn't do that till next weekend in Osaka.

Namba Hatch is pictured above.  I told you it looks like a flying saucer.

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Other highlights of this tour so far: IT RAINED ONSTAGE.  

During "Zangai" it rained actual drops of water, and during "Yasou" the rain continued as a fine mysterious mist.  All of this excess fluid was collected neatly in a wire mesh platform beneath Mr. Sakurai's pointy high-heeled shoes.

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Other highlights of this tour so far: IT FUCKING RAINED ONSTAGE.

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Other highlights of this tour so far: The fanclub-only shows include a "gacha-gacha" game, where you can stand in line to pull a plastic capsule out of a feely-box.  The capsules are filled with Buck-Tick goodies, including phone straps, fridge magnets, and pin badges featuring adorable anime chibi versions of the band members.  A few of the capsules also contain signed guitar/bass picks.  The gacha-gacha costs 200 yen per try and is available up until half an hour before the doors open, inside the venue during the show, and also after the show.  You can participate multiple times but you have to go to the back of the line each time.  Each fan is only allowed five tries per show.  If you try five times and still fail to pick lil' Yuta's pick, well then, I guess you can go cry some capsule tears.

In other news, Hide has acquired a new nickname, "Dehi."  This is, simply, "Hide" spelled backwards (in katakana.)  The fans are all screaming "Dehi" at him now, but I'm not sure he knows who they're talking about, though his smug smirk certainly makes it seem like he does.  A sticker set based around his oh-so-occultiful pentacle symbol is now available for a mere 500 yen and selling like lemonade on a hot summer's day. Stick this on the back of your guitar or the bottom of your coffee mug or inside your iPeen case and feel mystically close to Dehi all day long.

Imai, meanwhile, gloriously epic-failed on the introduction to "Miss Take" at yesterday's show at Namba Hatch.  To the fans near me in the crowd who looked quizzically at me as if wondering why I was laughing: I was laughing because Imai made a miss take.

Imai has also produced an out-of-this world "space print" hoodie, currently on sale at the goods booths for a mere 12500 yen.  It's funny to me that space print has gotten so trendy lately...are all fashion designers Buck-Tick fans?  But at risk of knocking Imai's moon out of orbit, I'll say that I have yet to see anyone who isn't Imai look remotely good in this hoodie.  However, wearers of the hoodie, don't give up yet - perhaps if y'all wore pink suede fringed loafers, space print spandex tights, a fringe belt of multicolored chains, and a lime green tour t-shirt with the neck cut out, as Imai has been doing, you'd come closer.

Yutaka, for his part, is styling out a version of a haircut you dubstep fans like to call "the Skrillex."  Long live Dub-Tick.

Incidentally, a friend of Not Greatest Site managed to catch one of Yutaka's thrown picks in her bra.  And she's only a modest size A. Even the smallest person can make the largest difference!  (For extra credit draw me a fanart of Yutaka as a hobbit.  I mean it.  Please draw me a picture like this.)

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Now, last but not least!

A drumroll, please!

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Buck-Tick performed "MY BABY JAPANESE" live!

For the first and second times ever, and we were there to witness it!!

I accidentally ALL THE BUCK-TICK SONGS!!!!!

It was the Type II version, but still.  This is an honor they have as yet only bestowed on fanclub members at the fanclub-only shows, but we're grateful.  It just goes to show how Buck-Tick is at their best when performing live, that I've been listening to this song for ten years and watching the live performance still made me see things in it I'd never noticed before.  It also goes to show what an expressive performer Mr. Sakurai is, that his prop-free performance in Yokohama was more persuasive than the performance he gave in Osaka, in which he sang most of the song while hiding coyly behind a silver Venetian mask.  Cayce to Mr. Sakurai: I see what you did there and I know exactly who you're imitating.

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P.S. Calling all fangirls: if you ever wanted to hear Mr. Sakurai breathe heavily into the microphone and beg a roomful of sweaty fans to "make me come," well, too bad, you missed it :P  Better luck climaxing next time.