Interview translation: MM on Gackt leaving the band

[Kamijo]

Riiiiiight.

My interest in this debate is lost.

 

[Es-chan]

Riiiiiight.

My interest in this debate is lost.

Mine too. We're not getting anywhere anyway.

 

[Geisha]

Seriously, how can you know what Gackt really said – and only you, everybody else is misinterpreting? You're interpreting and guessing just like everybody else because none of us were there and, inevitably, people will arrive at different views of what they think happened.

 

[Kyuketsuki]

Yeah, this is just becoming too much to read because everyone's speculating on different scenarios.

Bottom line is this:

Gackt disappeared and effectively left malice mizer- obviously it was not their intention to lose him. Everyone involved was/is probably still as confused as we are about the whole thing. The end (?).

x.x

 

[Berserk]

What's required is exactly what Es-chan, bless her, brings to it, namely: skepticism.

And Kyuketsuki is trying to say that if you're going to be a skeptic, keep an open mind so that you don't close yourself to skepticism of the viewpoint that you yourself put forth.

Es-chan has only been largely skeptical of one viewpoint, and that's not what the conversation needs either.

Maturity or the lack thereof is the stuff of Oprah, not intelligent discourse.

I think you're confusing intelligent discourse with symbolic logic. Maturity and morality can indeed be a part of intelligent discourse, and limiting the discussion to computable logic will only blind us to integral details that are a part of this situation and a part of the human experience.

For Gackt to be at fault here, to the point where is he to be censured in the histrionic terms of some of the above posts, he must have done something morally wrong. But I find nothing of the sort. Malice Mizer was a voluntary association from which either (a) he chose to secede or (b) they chose to eject him, and that is all.

I'm not sure what you think Gackt is accused of being at fault for. If you're under the impression that I've been arguing that it was wrong for him to leave Malice Mizer, you've misunderstood. I can't stress enough that he should have the freedom to do anything he wishes, and leaving Malice Mizer is not exception. I don't blame him for isolating himself, I don't blame him for leaving. I do blame him for being irresponsible with the exposure the press gave his viewpoint of the ordeal, however, and I do think that using the press to put forth highly personal and unverifiable personal accounts the way he did was wrong.

I was histrionic in the way I reacted to this new information, I can concede that. I was emotionally tied up with it all. It's a natural part of fanatacism, I suppose. I'm not as offended by Gackt's words as I was last night, and I've had a chance to look at it more objectively now. I still stand by the essential points of my words, but I feel less heated about it at this point.

1. The claim is made that the Mana-kicked-Gackt-out myth "no doubt has an effect on Mana's image". What first struck me about this proposition is the phrase "no doubt". Is there really no doubt at all? I ask because, well, I myself have serious doubts about that claim.

Every time Mana parts ways with members of a musical project he's a part of, he has to deal with "why do you kick everyone out of your bands?! "

This is verifiable because it's been published. Articles on the internet and in magazines make claims like that. Interviews discuss matter like this. It's happened many times. Whether or not this makes a huge impact on his professional career is what's debatable. Whether or not it's had an effect at all, however, is not.

4. Does any of this even matter?

In terms of the music and their art, no. It shouldn't, anyway.

It doesn't affect the art for me. I still enjoy the Gackt era of Malice Mizer just as much as every other era. I think he's the most talented vocalist Mana's worked with (though he's my least preferred of the vocalists simply for aesthetic reasons). I must say though, that when I put myself in Mana's position and think of getting letters from people lecturing me, chastising me, and harassing me about Gackt simply because of the way Gackt presented himself to the media, I'd be rather furious. It's not Gackt's fault that some "fans" took the whole thing too far and decided to rap on Mana like that, but he was irresponsible in his dealings with the press, and therefore indirectly caused things like that.

(Oh! Le ciel, exquisite? pssh. )

 

[Kyuketsuki]

^ well put. I'll second all of that.

We're not so mush bashing people as the way situations were handled. All of this debate has pretty much been focused on the 'why' concerning these actions- anyone saying "I hate gackt more" or anything else like that is missing the point or just injecting their personal opinion which shouldn't be brought into account in this discussion since our opinion of the people involved isn't the point.

And since we've come to the point in this dialog where we have to argue about what we were supposed to be arguing about in the first place, I'd say this whole thing is all pretty moot now.

 

[Berserk]

And since we've come to the point in this dialog where we have to argue about what we were supposed to be arguing about in the first place, I'd say this whole thing is all pretty moot now.

Agreed.

 

[MorganIvy]

Conclusions aside, I'd like to find the actual magazines where the interviews were published (both Malice's and Gackt's first).
I was going over LJ's jrock_scans archive but they don't have SHOXX's february issue and the only Vicious from 1999 with Malice Mizer are the February issue, that only features Kami, and the May issue, that only features Mana (and that interview mentions Gackt)

I suppose no one here has either or they would have spoken up right? But maybe we can track down some scans? Just to make sure that what was in that BBS is the whole thing?

Also, the link to the interview with Gackt Geisha posted says "SHOXX (8/98, Vol.66)" but that couldn't be the right date right? He was still with Malice at that time..

Maybe we could still do some more investigation about it. Preferably without repetitive arguments :/

 

[Amatsu]

this hasnt even been fully translated. i dunno why people are trying to draw conclusions from it yet.

 

[MorganIvy]

I thought eth84 translated everything there was to translate of the interview.

 

[Amatsu]

I thought eth84 translated everything there was to translate of the interview.

I thought it wasnt finished yet

maybe I'm wrong. ::kisaki::

 

[Kyuketsuki]

I thought eth84 translated everything there was to translate of the interview.

I thought it wasnt finished yet

maybe I'm wrong. ::kisaki::

Yes, it's finished.

@Ivy: Well, honestly, the date could be correct, because he officially left MM in around january of '99, right? There could have been a known separation for awhile, and that's when the interview with gackt was done (?). Because even he said he didn't know what was going to happen- whether he'd continue with malice mizer or what.

 

[Geisha]

Also, the link to the interview with Gackt Geisha posted says "SHOXX (8/98, Vol.66)" but that couldn't be the right date right? He was still with Malice at that time.

I think that's a mistake by the webmaster, since in the table of content he states it as being from SHOXX 2/99, Vol.72:

http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Bridge/7727/intrvu.html

SHOXX 8/98, Vol.66 is the same issue number as the long personal interview from August 1998, so I think he just forgot to change the date in his template when he posted the next long personal interview.

Taking publishing schedules, printer deadlines and so on into account, I'd guess MM's responses would have been published in the March 1999 issue of Vicious (or DM (?), whatever that is).

 

[MorganIvy]

So MM's response should have a photoshoot with only the 4 members? That narrows it down a bit right? There's the Popes photoshoot, the one where Közi's wraped in satin ribbow and the one where they wore the same outfits as in that fanclub event?
Of course it could still have pics of the 5 members (just the other day I found scans of a magazine that had Gackt solo and gackt again in the MM pics) but I think it's more likely that there'd be a new photoshoot without him if they're talking about him leaving.

I don't have scans of interviews with any of these photoshoots though, only the pics =/

edit: MM's site has a listing of the magazines they were in. I went to the oldest page the Internet Archive had and I think it may help: http://web.archive.org/web/199910040347 ... o.jp/info/

 

[Geisha]

Unfortunately the beginning of 1999 seems to be missing from the archive; there's a Fools Mate with MM from January 1999 and the archive starts from 3 March. Anyway, Arena37°c from 10 March mentions Mana and Kozi talking about Gackt leaving and the future of the band. Maybe the poster on the BBS got it wrong and the interview is from Arena?

Another thought, could DM be a typo and mean FM (= Fools Mate)? I don't know about Japanese keyboards but on an English keyboard the keys D and F are next to each other.

 

[MorganIvy]

Another thought, could DM be a typo and mean FM (= Fools Mate)? I don't know about Japanese keyboards but on an English keyboard the keys D and F are next to each other.

Good thinking! The Fools Mate from January is the one where Közi's wrapped in ribow right? Are there scans of the interview that anyone knows of? I only have the pictures..
I found the first page of the 'popes' photoshoot with what I suppose is the title of the interview:

 

[flowersofnight]

Whoa, thanks for the scan! I didn't even know there was a full version of those pope photos!

... and is their "robe" just a big rug?

 

[mort]

Many thanks for this translation. Parts had been translated before at Malice Aftermath but it's interesting to see more of it.

I don't think it would have made much of a difference to Mana's reputation had it been more widely available however, simply because the people who tend to be so vocal in their dislike of his personality also tend to be the people who don't bother reading interviews or anything else fact based . Why let the truth get in the way of perfectly good gossip after all.

I don't really have an opinion on who the bad guys and who the good guys are. I'm glad Gackt left because I like both what he went on to do and what MM went on to do and am especially grateful that this made way for Klaha and Bara no Seidou. We probably don't have a complete image of everything going on at the time and so it's hard to say whether Gackt was really as out of line as he appears to have been - and I'm with those that feel that his apparent conduct left a lot to be desired, but why take sides at the end of the day on something that isn't exactly your business.

DM = Direct Mail. It's a term used in Japan to refer to any mailings going out from the artist to the fanclub/fanbase, either email or paper.

 

[Geisha]

The Fools Mate from January is the one where Közi's wrapped in ribow right? Are there scans of the interview that anyone knows of? I only have the pictures.

Yes, it is! I don't have the interview either though.

DM = Direct Mail. It's a term used in Japan to refer to any mailings going out from the artist to the fanclub/fanbase, either email or paper.

I hadn't even thought of that. Of course it would've made sense to send out a mailing informing fans about the state of affairs, rather than wait for the next round of magazine publications.

I don't think it would have made much of a difference to Mana's reputation had it been more widely available however, simply because the people who tend to be so vocal in their dislike of his personality also tend to be the people who don't bother reading interviews or anything else fact based . Why let the truth get in the way of perfectly good gossip after all.

That's true but I still think that, if people had known both sides of the story from the start, the notion that he must be at fault whenever something happens in or around his musical projects wouldn't be so deeply ingrained now.

 

[Kyuketsuki]

This matter is like a huge, tangled ball of yarn (sorry for the cat reference, but it makes the most sense). ::kisaki:: Geisha's right in that it could have put a bit of a muffle on the mana hate in the department of people management, but still, mort's got a very valid point that people just like to rumor monger and telling them anything even with the proof right in front of them isn't going to make them stop spreading lies.

I think a question now is whether we go to any other boards we're on and post this interview there (with the translator's permission, of course. or even better, have it posted on the main site so it can be linked out.). Would it make a difference, do you think? It would definitly cause a bit of a stir, but......eh. :/