When you discovered Mana and Mdm, Your stories

[Pythos]

So I was looking through my live journal, and found the first entry about Mdm, and Mana. What a strange beginning.

His music is still just as fresh for me, even after all these months.

Ozzy slightly dulled out in four or so months ( I still love him though).

This is a long entry, but some may find it interesting and perhaps see some commonality.

This was sometime in August 09

[ Tags | absinthe, hizaki, malice mizer, mana, mdm, moi dix mois ]
[ Current Location | at the comp ]
[ mood | hopeful ]
[ music | Bach's tocatta en feuge, Hizaki's race wish. ]

So let's see.

Aside from a new experience this past weekend, and my discovery of new music from the last place I would expect such, not much has happened in the past several months.

I have been just plugging along with attaining the flight instructor's certificate, which has been an experience. I am learning my flight instructors may not have been as good as I had thought they were, even my first instructor who was an old veteran may not have been the best, as I had thought. Amazing how images can be shattered to pieces by a little knowledge.

I have been improving on my guitar skills, though still not all that good yet. I still hit strings that I shouldn't, and don't use enough pressure on the frets as I should, especially with the pinky, and ring fingers. Years ago when I last attempted to play, I had the same problem, but I was much less patient then.

While looking for guitar lessons on line, a came across what looked like a lady in Victorian clothing, with the video title "Hizaki, race wish", In the description was "the most awesome guitar work EVAR!!". So my curiosity piqued. The video started with some nice classical sounding synth music, as the camera found and focused on this figure in a maroon dress of a very ornate and beautiful design.

Then the figure began playing. The tune was simple enough, and very nice to hear, not really what I would call awesome.

then the tune went to the second part. A little faster, and a bit more complex, probably would take me a little effort to nail, but still not that awesome.

Then the third part. The fretting fingers dissolved into a blur, the guitar sang as VERY fast notes were individually picked out at a most incredible speed. Tears started welling up in my eyes as I watched, and heard this unfold. I had never heard something like this done in this manner. There are those guitarist that fly up and down the scales at mind numbing speed, but the sound produced is really just noise. Fantastic noise, don't get me wrong, but it is still noise. What I was hearing here was melodic, AND fast.

The piece continued, and my eyes were fixed on the fretting fingers, I could barely make out what they were doing they were moving so fast. The pace then slowed down a little, and the piece got a little less complex, but still wonderful to hear.

Finally the piece came to a close with some fast picking fading out.

Well, I had found my main practice piece for guitar work.

I later learned Hizaki, is a guy, and part of the Japanese visual kie movement.

I had heard of visual kie before on another site I frequented about fashion freedom. The artist that stood out was named Mana.

After watching Race Wish for a third time, and reading the comments, I looked at the related search column. Lo and behold, there was a familiar but different face looking back. I had only seen pictures of Mana on my first set of encounters of his visage, and was amazed at how well he could pull of a feminine image, but he wasn't really a fashion freedomist, but more a cross dresser, so I didn't pay him too much mind.

The face looking back on the related search though was not overtly feminine. It was definitly a blend of male and female, along with what was a bonus for me, a very Gothic looking, angel of death look. Shadows temple was the name associated with the image. Nice sounding name.

I have always loved classical music, when done right harpsichords, and violins can sound wonderful. My all time favorite instrument to hear is the Pipe organ.

The opening notes of Shadows temple started playing, accompanied by an image of Mana holding a glowing symbol, that I would later learn is the band's symbol. He looked to me positively awesome. The creepy sounding violin and vocals (synthed, I am sure), gave way to my favorite instrument being played very fast. It sounded very much like a piece of Bach's Tocatta en Fuege being played repeatedly over and over. The sound was gorgeous. Soon the vocals came in, "Shadows dream of truth and false"

Interesting lyric.

I then found myself lost in one of the most intense, and marvelous pieces of music I had heard in a long time. The images on the screen changed and I recognized Mana in one of the costumes I had seen on the fashion freedom site. He had changed. I definitely liked his new appearance. It looked like something I would totally have pulled off, had my parents allowed my goth self to be expressed, when I was a kid.

That night I experienced more and more of Mana's works, with his band Moi Dix Mois, and later his earlier band Malice Mizer, which was the time I had first learned of this man's existence. The music was great, the costumes, were very impressive, the over all package....like nothing I have ever seen. They made Oingo Boingo look like amateurs.

So yea, within the past several months I discovered a Japanese artist named Mana, and am so happy I did. He is incredible.

Not just for his music, but his philosophy, and views on gender expression. He and I are akin, except for the fact he did not allow fear to limit himself. He used it to his advantage, and consequently became the heart throb of many a fan girls (and I am sure boys as well). I learned he is also a clothing designer, and pioneer of the Gothic Lolita, and later Gothic Aristocrat look.

The guy is a freaking dynamo. Also, to top it off, he is a geek. He loves video games, has a fascination with sea monkeys of all things, and he is very connected with his fans.

I joined his fan club, witch aside from George Lucas is the only person I have done such for. The money was not wasted (like it was with Lucas), I find reading his fanclub stuff quite fun. Very down to earth, and the guy is quite a good person, despite his dark appearance. He may not acknowledge it but he is a goth at heart.

So let's see. Now that I am done being a fan boy, what else is going on.

Oh yea, that's right. Nothing.

Oh wait, almost forgot. This past weekend I and two of my friends experienced the effects of "The Green Fairey". We at last had a go with Absinthe.

Oh my god.

We hardly had any, and thought the effects that were happening was a psycological reaction to drinking this drink with an interesting past. But no, indeed we were experiencing the mind altering effects of the drink of Edgar Allen Poe, and several other literary geniuses. It was great. I was buzzed, but I did not consume several tequilas to get at the stage I was at. That night we played on the organ, I tried to successfully play some of Mdm's piano pieces, and organ pieces, along with Tocatta en feuge. I can only play bits and pieces of that piece, but intend to get the whole thing down sometime. Monophobia's piano is as simple as it is beautiful. That night I introduced them to Mdm via you tube.

That was a fun night, and the most marvelous part....no hang over.

So that I believe is it. (looks around), oh yea, I received Mana's fan club medallion, which is a nice looking if occultish looking piece of jewelry, it should work well with my costume I am working of for Halloween, if I haven't received Mdm's medallion by that time.

Right. That's it. I am done here for now.

[Pythos]

Wow, no other remembrances.

I know why!! My post is too long. LOL

[Izumi]

Violins in Shadows Temple sound like something from the score from Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho". Not literally the music that its famed for, but more like the music that accompanies certain suspenseful scenes.

[OhMyDix]

I first saw something about Moi Dix Mois on a girl's presentation on stardoll.com, and she had a load of other bands on there, but for some reason I thought I'd have a look at them, because I've always quite liked Japan

I remember the first time I was trying to listen to a Moi Dix Mois song on youtube, the internet was being a complete idiot. Whenever I clicked something it just kept coming up with 'Error, try again later'. But after clicking about a million (I was determined!!) Angelica was the only one that would work. I was like, 'Oh my God, wow!! This is awesome!!'

At that point I still had no idea about the members, so when the internet started working again, I tried to find an interview with them. As soon as I saw them, I had another WOAH!! moment, because of Mana's hair, mainly When Mana started whispering stuff to Juka, I was a bit... I don't really know how to put it... Part of me thought he was a bit mental

But after that I kept on listening to them. I'm pretty picky with music, so I was glad I found a band that was so awesome!!

[BloodRoseBed]

I used to always write a band's name if somebody told me it was good so I could download it later. I therefore heard Au Revoir first XD Within the songs I downloaded was Color me blood red, which I absolutely loved. I never look for info on the bands I like, but I had showed my best friend the songs, and upon loving them, she did research on MM. We then discovered THE MANA! -add holy music here XD- We were in LOOOOVE! We learned all the info on him, looked for countless vids of him, watched all the concerts, etc. Not to mention, he hooked us on Lolita XD During that time, I heard the first song that enamoured me: Nocturnal Romance, my first Mdm song. Gosh I loved it to pieces!!! I ABSOULTELYFOREVER Love Juka's voice XP (IMO JUKA>SETH XP). Since little, I have always loved classical music and opera, not to mention I play classical guitar and violin... but the fact that I play classical guitar made me really love the way the harpsdichord works in his songs. Plus gosh, the compositions.... they're absolutely gorgeous. I go into these wild mind trips when I hear his songs. I analyze how all the instruments work themselves into the song, how perfectly the blend, etc. It's like my own special brand of heroine (I have never tried drugs, mind you XP). Another plus was the fact that he crossdresses (and did extra kinkeh stuff in MM), and since my BFF and I were REALLY hooked on yaoi those days, it was a perfect cherry on top.

Also, the fact that he is also very nerdy/cute/non perfect at times makes him love him even more. Not to mention how dedicated he is to writing perfect songs and to his fans.... He created a beautiful, dark world, which I would die to live in.

(sorry for the edit, pressed enter by mistake)

[Lapis]

Interesting stories ^^
Mine is a little ... a little weird, I may say.

The name "Mana" was burned in my heart since I was 7 or 8 eight years old.
I had a great liking for SNES games and among those my probably favourite ever:
"Secret of Mana"
A boy, a girl and an elf journey the land of Mana, to seal all elementary Mana seeds and rescue their world from evil Tantalus. Some of you may have played the game, too, have you realised Mana dragon looking like Mana Merveilles? LOL ->
(Ok, I realised this later, back to the story XD)
What can I say? - I loved it. It was the only SNES game I owned (all other were my brother's) and it had its place in my heart. Whenever I imagined stories, "Mana" showed up. When I came across an article about Moi dix Mois in a german anime magazine years later, I learned one of those three persons on the pic was called Mana.
"Hey, one of these guys' name's Mana, lol"
My thoughts. Since there were no names on the photo, I could not find our who of the pictured was that guy called Mana - and closed the magazine. Whoever it was, those japanese were crazy. I couldn't imagine I could ever like this.

It happened about a half year later.
I was bored to death. For days. Thinking of what I could spend my time with, I got the idea to google all those names of japanese musicians a friend was obsessed with. I started off with Despairs Ray. Well, japanese freaks. Next was Miyavi. No better. Who else did I know?
Mana, I remembered. There is this guy called Mana. Well, will be the same as the previous, but at least I'm occupied.
Expecting to get to see photos in the style of Moi dix Mois with the bushy, teased hair, lots of crazily patterned makeup and dark clothes I saw myself facing a pretty, blond-haired ... woman?
"Eh? This can't possibly be the same?!"
But I knew already, he was the same. I recognised the lips, the eyes, the face. It was all there. I clicked to the next page. More blond-haired pics, some with blue hair and among those, one with the bushy hair. And the rest you can imagine by yourself

[Pythos]

Wow, that is funny how you also kinda passed up Mana on first pass. Mine (I told this story in how I came across Mana earlier in this thread), was when I was on one of my fashion freedom sites. One of the participants brought up Malice Mizer and Mana, and had some pics of him in several costumes from that era. His look was quite impressive to say the least...BUT, and this was my errror, it was not fashion freedom, it was full on crossdressing. My internet connection at the time was a dead slow modem so there was no hope of checking out the videos.

Well I regret that cause I am sure if I had found Mdm, or even beast of blood, I may have struck a different path, for Mana was living the life when it came to self expression I longed for.

Several years later I see his face in a suggested vids list next to the vid of Hizaki's race wish as I was looking for killer guitar rifts. I recognized the face, and lip design (one that I have adopted, shamelessly to my own goth style), and clicked what I was to learn was the vid for Shadows temple.

With the tunes of those harpsichords, organs, and powerful guitar started washing over me, it was the start of of something that should have started years before.

[Lapis]

I let Mana pass by actually two times XD
When Moi dix Mois had their first concert in Germany, I got a call from a friend and she said: "Have you heard? There is a japanese band giving a concert in Munich, wouldn't that be interesting for you?"
And I said: "No. Munich is too far."
Haha.
But I don't regret I didn't go there. I knew, I would have been shocked. It may sound strange, but I wasn't ready at that time and I would have hated it, I know for sure.

It is sometimes strange how life leads you to what you have been looking for for years and in the end you discover that somehow you did know it for so long ... or rather, that your heart has known it for so long.
I feel like having found home.

[Pythos]

Lapis, one of the funny things about Mana is, there is a pic of him in the latex shiny dress, blond hair, and his gothy makeup. He also has an obvious flat chest.

Well my Rocky Horror costume my friends titled the "Gothic Beauty" consisted of a skin tight black shiny spandex mini dres, black hose, blond long wig, Goth makeup, and heels. No forms, no fake shaping for the hips. I saw the pic much later of mana in his costume and was all, "Oh my God, that is a variation of my Rocky Horror costume!!!" It would be several years before I discovered Mana. His Mdm look is very close the look I would have loved to have done in my high school days. LOL

It may sound far fetched but I somehow feel a connection with him....though I know there is no way there is any.

LOL

[Lapis]

I know what you mean.
It happens to me sometimes, too. In such moments I am tempted to believe there is a connection, but if I do so I feel like a stupid fangirl and resend the idea ^^° Maybe because I'm scared of such fangirls. It has already occured that I was jumped at or hugged so tightly I could hardly breath by unkown people, somewhat replacing Mana for them. Some girls had followed me a whole day just to hear my voice - they said, they wanted to hear Mana's voice.
And it scares me. And I would hate it to lose sense of reality like they do, so I've become careful about believing ... do you get what I want to say? ^^° If I believed "yes, there is a connection", I feel like I'd give them a reason to treat me like they do ...

Sounds weird, doesn't it ... ? XD"""

[Pythos]

nope.

[Lapis]

OK :'D
I usually don't talk about such a subject. People may get the idea I was arrogant ... I have been told so a several times. Hell no, I'm not.

[Velvet~Pain]

I found out about Mana and Moi Dix Mois around 3 years ago. My friend had began listening to Visual Kei bands like Alice Nine so she said I should check them out and so I did, and I wasn't so thrilled about what I heard, but I liked the looks so I kept searching for intresting bands, which lead me in on gothic Visual Kei bands like Velvet Eden, and from there I heard of Malice Mizer and that one of the members was a great musician (Mana), so I checked them out and I loved how Mana looked, but I wasn't so found of the music (the first song I heard was Gardenia, I still don't like it). A year later I heard Le Ciel and since then I've loved Malice Mizer. At that point I also heard of Moi Dix Mois.

[WasabiXdemoN]

For me,It started 2 years ago.My friend was into gothic music and she has those AM-AZING drawing skills ( i'm kinda catching her up on that lol) then she showed me the album nocturnal opera then told me "i wanna draw him" And on the cover it was mana olding a woman.. then she told me that the woman is the man holding :"her": so i was kinda weirded out that he looked perfectly like a woman.I didnt pay much attention cuz the bell ring directly after so i ran to my locker, the second day by coincidence my ignorant friends told me that in their class there was this girl showing a weird band called malice mizer. they wer saying that it was "emo" -.- but not it wasnt emo, i searched it on youtube. i came across beast of blood and i got transported into a black and white horror movie listening to this beautyfull song. then i realised that one of the members was a girl (back then i wasnt relaly familiar with guys crossdressing into the visual kei scene) so i got interested since i never saw a girl in the visual kei scene before . i realised that there was no way to see "her" talk exept i came across that interview where he said hes position then i was shocked! loll i saw that alot of moi dix mois songs are in the "related videos" box so i searched a little then i realised that he's current band is moi dix mois and i fell inlove with their music. my friend had the CDs so while i save up to buy all of their albums i asked her to borrow me her CDs and i first listened to beyond the gate since that was the order that my ipod putted the songs in. it was great! i was listening to it during the morning while i was going to school. it almost made me miss my stop lol and i like electronic/digital music so when it got to deus ex machina i was really really impressed. i also loved deflower. and i by the time realised that mana has what it takes to be my idol since he does almost everything i want to do and he created music that is close to what i wanted to create. especially hes digital works and there is alot of reasons why i love mana and hes work but i cannot tell them there is no words. i can just feel them and that's it so when someone asks me why do i love mana i just say "it's complicated".I'm happy that he's making a new album and hope that it isnt hes last one.if it is i hope to see more from malice mizer (:

[Ashchan]

For me, it was about a year (and a half) ago. I was browsing youtube for Japanese music (tired of listening to mainstream American) and found Gackt. Didn't like him and came across other Jpop artists. Not thrilled with them and went back to Gackt, only this time I looked at his older stuff more (Malice Mizer) and liked what I heard. I continued to listen to MM and then found out about Moi Dix Mois and Kozi's solo careers. Listened to to those and was hooked. Since then, my list of 'favorite' Visual Kei bands/artists has increased a little, but my favorite is still Mana.