I've been into Japanese music since something like 1998 but alas it took me forever to get into J-rock and Visual Kei, not until the summer of 2003. As such I'm a relatively new fan, but when the obsession hit oh man did it hit. I first found out about Malice Mizer and had to know everything about them. I spent a long time just focusing on them. When I did branch out, I recall downloading some Moi dix Mois and Schwarz Stein tracks and not being very impressed with either. (It was "Beautiful the Virgin" for SS which I still don't like, I recall thinking "BORING!" I forget what MdM stuff I listened to.)
ANYWAY, I had been losing interest for a bit until I finally managed to exhaust most of Malice Mizer's discography and focused more Mana's new project, Moi dix Mois. It wasn't until I saw Scars of Sabbath and was absolutely FLOORED BY THE GAWTHNESS that I really began to like them as a group, and decided it was seriously the coolest thing I had ever seen. Then I stumbled on Kozi's KHAOS/KINEMA and thought "Huh, Kozi solo work, neato" Well holy crap that floored me too, especially "Honey vanity". I've had a pretty steady interest in all the solo artists/related groups since then.