class assignment.... Mana-sama

For my english class, we are writing a research paper. The topic? It has to be on someone who has somehow, changed the world, or their country, or something like that. ((im not sure if 'the music world' counts.... <.<))

Naturally, I want to do Mana-sama... but... Im having trouble thinking of 3 good solid reasons of what he's done to change japan, or the music world, fashion..etc.

1st, does anybody know of a few really good sites with information on Mana? ((I can only use 1 internet resource....>_>;).. Any books?

Im afraid if I can't find anything decent and good enough to be able to write a 5 paragraph paper... I'll have to switch people. ((i only need 3 solid reasons though... cuz there's an inroduction and a conclustion( 2) + 3 ways he's changed the world, = 5))


The second person I had in mind was Gackt... but I'm not sure if I could find anything good about him... I know at least I have a book to use..(autobiography may help? o_O )

And if it all comes down to it... I won't be able to do either of them.. TT.TT .. Would anybody have any better suggestions?

((btw- the influence/how he changed the world doesn't have to be good... >3 it can be a negative one))


**- new info, the 3 paragraphs I need to do have to be at least 6-10 sentences long. so i need a decent thing to write about.

EDIT:



ok, so far, my three main topics are these....


1. Elegant Gothic Lolita (Fashion)

notes:" Mana opened up "her" own boutique and the fashion has become popular even over here

so it's global impact

You'll see it in Hot Topic and Diversions and all the trendy online sites " ))

~ " Mana was one of the first artist to break out of Japan, open up stores in Europe as well as tour outside of Japan, which is a rarity and almost never happens. "


2. Visual Kei to the limits.
notes:Mana really stressed on the visuals of his band, crossdressing for the artistic purpose of it. He pushed the visual kei style to the max.
concerts... would seem like plays or operas... with skilled lighting techniques, elaborate costumes ( plus costume changes)...

"he's breaking fundamental barriers in our world freeing future generations from the suppression of todays world "

3. something about his music? .... (i don't know about this part)... first guy in japan to do... something with his original music? i dunno. help me out here.

notes: the original twin guitar sound....... <-i need more on this.

"Mana really invented the sound of two guitars reminiscent of classical music (like Bach's) and hapsichords. There have been two e-guitars in music before, but never used in the way Mana did. However, he didn't quite establish it. "

Mana is not the first artist to "break out" of Japan nor does he have any stores outside of Japan o-o;;;

That is unless you count cdJapan selling his merchandise... I wouldn't, though.

*edit*... I dunno man. Mana is great and all and all of Malice Mizer has definitely been influential. But Mana, nor most of them have 'changed the world' in any kind of drastic or significant way. Maybe changed a small amount of things in their own countries and an even smaller niche amount of people follow these trends outside of Japan... but I don't see anything groundbreaking. Original in a lot of ways, sure, but like... change the world? o-o;

+LejuN+

.. and he's never toured outside of Japan (yet). Many others have.

LejuN wrote:

Mana is not the first artist to "break out" of Japan nor does he have any stores outside of Japan o-o;;;

That is unless you count cdJapan selling his merchandise... I wouldn't, though.

*edit*... I dunno man. Mana is great and all and all of Malice Mizer has definitely been influential. But Mana, nor most of them have 'changed the world' in any kind of drastic or significant way. Maybe changed a small amount of things in their own countries and an even smaller niche amount of people follow these trends outside of Japan... but I don't see anything groundbreaking. Original in a lot of ways, sure, but like... change the world? o-o;

+LejuN+

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1. note- i said, "one of the first" .. not, the first,

2. i believe he has a store in France.

3. didn't have to to exactly , change the world, but he could of changed society in Japan,

MiniKitty wrote:

For my english class, we are writing a research paper. The topic? It has to be on someone who has somehow, changed the world, or their country, or something like that. ((im not sure if 'the music world' counts.... <.<))

Naturally, I want to do Mana-sama... but... Im having trouble thinking of 3 good solid reasons of what he's done to change japan, or the music world, fashion..etc.

Click to expand...

Well... first off, you need to realize that Mana is not really that famous outside of the visual kei world. No one in "the music world" at large will know who he is, except people who are already into the scene. As much of a fan as I am, I really don't think he can be said to have changed the world. Even within the VK scene, not many bands were even inspired by Malice Mizer/M10M...

1st, does anybody know of a few really good sites with information on Mana? ((I can only use 1 internet resource....>_>;).. Any books?

Click to expand...

For sites, I might suggest.... this one
As for books, there have been plenty of photo and interview books, but as far as translated info you're not going to find any offline.

1. Elegant Gothic Lolita (Fashion)

notes:" Mana opened up "her" own boutique and the fashion has become popular even over here

so it's global impact

You'll see it in Hot Topic and Diversions and all the trendy online sites " ))

Click to expand...

I'll leave this to someone who knows the current fashions better than me, but I think this trend is marginal at best here. And Mana doesn't even sell his clothes overseas except via CD Japan.

~ " Mana was one of the first artist to break out of Japan, open up stores in Europe as well as tour outside of Japan, which is a rarity and almost never happens. "

Click to expand...

Actually, many artists have "broken out of Japan", going back all the way to Kyu Sakamoto in the '60s who made it to the top of the US charts Plenty of Japanese artists have come here... just not many visual ones per se. Also, Mana currently doesn't have any overseas stores yet, and his first overseas tour hasn't happened yet... that's coming in March

2. Visual Kei to the limits.
notes:Mana really stressed on the visuals of his band, crossdressing for the artistic purpose of it. He pushed the visual kei style to the max.
concerts... would seem like plays or operas... with skilled lighting techniques, elaborate costumes ( plus costume changes)...

Click to expand...

This is true, but how does it change the world? I think you're going to need to show how his costuming and staging has affected other artists, fashions, or trends.

And uh.... it looks like a bunch of people already replied by now so I'll leave it here. I don't mean to be harsh, but I don't think Mana's a good choice for this project.

PS: welcome to the forum!

oh poo....

darn it .... looks like things are turning sour for me and my Mana idea.... ~.~ XD

i was trying to keep the hope that i could do him, someway.... but by the looks of things... people are telling me "no" ... he won't work.


*sigh*

... Does anyone have a person who would actually work with my project?... Someone not boring as heck? XD

How about Louis Pasteur-sama? He helped develop the germ theory of disease, invented a vaccine for rabies, and discovered the causes of fermentation and putrefaction. There's three things right there ^_^

did i mention i have to dress like my person too...?

Louis Pasteur.... i think someone else is doing him anyways. anybody have any other suggestions?


...<.< im guessing Gackt wouldn't work either...

If you want to still dress pseudo-VK you can do Evariste Galois.... XD
Very influential too, but he might be trickier to do a report on.

Oh well, I'm off to bed.... good luck

2. i believe he has a store in France.

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No, he doesn't have stores anywhere outside of Japan (yet).

I know you decided against already but I thought I'd throw my opinion there anyway. If I was going to talk about how Mana has influenced most people, I think it would come down to:

a) How he has inspired people to break out of their gender, not in Japan, but in the US actually. Or at least, that has always been my impression when seeing so many teenagers from conservative US societies suddenly trying to find their sexuality or coming to term with things like liking men in makeup. However Mana is doing nothing new, and there are others who have inspired before him, it's just the way he does it that seems to have a great impact on many people.

b) He's the creator of gothic lolita. That does give him lots of points in the fashion world.

And that would be about it I don't think it's enough. Mana is mostly respected as an idol, not a composer (which is sad because his music is incredible) and even as such he is not influential in a level that would apply to your essay IMHO. It's almost as if people know him, admire him, respect him - but don't want to grow up to be him.

[but of course there *are* people who do want to grow up to be him and he has influenced more in many more ways than those, just not sufficient to call it an influence in the way your essay means it].

Having said that though, he really is worshipped in Japan by his fans. But I think that this is because the japanese tend to really take fandom to the next level, and Mana is not the only one with such devoted followers. So I would not call him unique, even in that sense.

Just a tidbit about the fashion bit: while Mana is definately responsible for the EGL/EGA fashions, his influence has nothing to do with the wannabe trashy-GL-esque styles showing up at stores like Hot Topic. O_o

Fashion trends are--believe it or not--decided years in advance. It's called marketing. And at the moment, with trendy clothes, ruffles and lace and such are "in". So, Hot Topic, being the pop-culture store it is, takes the current trend of ruffles and makes it uberGAWTHRAWK.

Ahem.

Yes. I've seen some far more "ELG" looking clothes in normal stores than anything in Hot Topic. Everything in that store lacks elegance, which is the entire point of the ELEGANT gothic lolita. As for online stores--more probable that the aftershock of Mana/VK has been felt through online gothic clothing stores. Only because in some cases, I actually see the term "Gothic Lolita" or "EGL" come up. I still wouldn't go so far as to say Mana created the fashion, though. Marketed it, "popularized" it, coined the name for it...but not created. That's a bit of a stretch.

I stopped shopping at Hot Topic a while ago, they got rid of all their cool looking gothic clothes and now everything is punk band related. *hugs long black coat and vinyl pants* Why don't they sell things like that anymore... why...

Also, a lot of antique stores have a lot of gothic looking clothes (old victorian clothes are so much cooler then modern clothes...)

I've talked to fans in Japan, and from what I've heard, bands like Malice Mizer and Moi Dix Mois are not really famous. They are popular among their fans, but they are not famous. Keep in mind, this is only from people I've talked to. I believe it because when looking for Malice Mizer in Japan, many music stores that I went to (including HMV in Tokyo) had no idea who Malice Mizer was and many directed me to the forign music section. When they typed Malice Mizer into their computers, though, many had already gotten rid of their MM invantory because no one buys them anymore ;_;

Chiming in late, as usual...

I dote on Mana, and so does the majority of -scape-. But putting emotions aside, almost everyone agrees that he would not be the best candidate for this essay. I wouldn't really consider him as a person who influenced the world on a global perspective. Do you think your teacher will really know what you're talking about, with a five-paragraph essay all about this guy who's virtually unheard of in the U.S. public--or even in most of his home country? And good luck on writing a strong enough thesis to make your readers believe he was some great figure of humanity or something that will be known for generations to come. Hate to put it bluntly, but the truth is supposed to be bitter. Sorry kiddo.

But hey, how about a little Sigmund Freud!

oh, I agree. But have you seen the newest shots from the paris fashion show? Some're gothic lolita...so, you know, he has the potential to be here and there, I suppose. *btwn: EGL IS Mana. He created that, and the ideal EGL is him. So to be EGL you have to aspire to look like Mana-if not you're just GL*

I think of him more as a visual artist though, and less of a musician (if you disagree, please do not do so here. Like, PM me or something), so the music thing isn't all that suprising.