#lm.c fans

[hvemfaen]

Can't believe it's been 15 years since this song was released<3

[theinarticulatemagicmarkerpen]

Goods for VIP ticket holders: BIG acrylic stand (to be assembled) ☆Before assembly Equivalent to A4 size (approx. 30cm x 20cm) ☆When assembled Height: approx. 16 cm Source

[eldar-of-zemlya]

A few days ago, I realized that I’ve spent my last three birthdays in three different countries—each one a temporary home, but never quite the real home. And since today is my birthday, it feels like the right moment to share my story—a story about growing up queer in Russia, navigating an absurd system, escaping it, and constantly being on the run. It’s a long journey, but one that I hope will offer some insight as I reflect on where life has taken me so far.

Illustrated by yours truly.

I was born in Russia, in a small countryside town that sits right on the border between Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus. Like many families in this region, mine is a chaotic blend of Slavic identities, plus a bit of Tatar heritage on my father’s side.

We come from a long line of Orthodox priests who were repressed and executed by the KGB during Stalin’s regime. The only branch of our family that survived had to be constantly on the run, changing towns and professions to avoid persecution as the children of “enemies of the nation.” I guess that’s the family curse I’ve never been able to escape—always searching for a homeland and always running away from it.

My father was an artist and my mother a university professor. My father was so absent from my life that when my parents separated when I was five, it took me two weeks to notice he was gone. My first question wasn’t even about him—it was about our dog. “Mom, where is Julie?… And where is Dad?” After that, my mother had to return to work to provide for me, so I spent most of my early years at my grandmother’s house, left to my own devices.

In pre-school, I was obsessed with Michael Jackson, rewinding the same VHS of his music videos until it barely played anymore. In primary school, I had a bunch of Tokio Hotel’s songs burned onto a floppy disk by my mother’s colleague, who had access to the new wonder of the time—the World Wide Web. I’d wait eagerly for their music video to play on some random music channel, glued to the screen in our cramped, Soviet-era Khrushchyovka apartment. That’s when I stumbled upon something that started a chain reaction that, in hindsight, brought me to where I am now.

The lower third of the screen briefly flashed a title: “LM.C — Ghost†Heart (Japan).” At first, there was nothing particularly strange about the music video, except maybe that it was from Japan. But when the two “girls” began singing with a voice that was unmistakably male, I realized they weren’t girls at all. There was something captivating about how they embodied both masculinity and femininity so beautifully at the same time. I didn’t even know the word “androgynous” back then, but I instinctively recognized that the same thing that had drawn me to my previous interests was now pulling me toward them.

As soon as we finally got our first slow dial-up connection, I searched for LM.C. That’s when an entirely new world opened up to me—J-rock, Visual Kei, a genre of Japanese music that focused on extravagant stage costumes where musicians often wore dresses and makeup. I was immediately hooked.

And I wasn’t alone. There was a small but growing community of J-rock fans across Russia, even a few in my small town. Some were teens, others pre-teens like me, and even a few adults. We would gather on Lenin Square—the heart of our little town—dreaming and talking about Japan, anime, and J-rock. My mom often came with me to our local meet-ups—not just to show support, but for safety. We were what others called “non-formals”—subculture kids. Our high platform boots, chains, band shirts, and unconventional looks made us stand out in our post-Soviet town, often attracting unwanted attention. People would make snide comments, and the police would sometimes chase us off. Once, one of the guys in our group got ambushed by gopniks, and they ripped chunks of his long hair out of his scalp. Being different was dangerous in the Russian countryside.

I was always open about the bands I listened to, which earned me the label “the weird kid who listens to Japanese transvestites and watches cartoons for kids.” (Honestly, I was ahead of my time. Nowadays, kids get bullied if they don’t watch anime.) Through all of this, my mom was incredibly supportive. I would sew Visual Kei-inspired outfits from fabric scraps and even dyed my hair red once. That might seem normal now, but back then it made me the laughingstock of the whole school. Even the teachers thought I was strange and probably wished they could get me in trouble. But there was nothing they could do aside from making the occasional snarky comment about my looks. Our country didn’t enforce a school dress code, and I was at the top of my class, so they had no grounds to discipline me.

Naturally, discovering anime led me to yaoi and slash fanfiction. At the time, our country was still relatively free, and LGBT stories weren’t illegal yet—considered strange, disgusting, and perverted by some, but not illegal. Somehow, I could relate to the characters, even though I was a straight teenage girl, which was incredibly confusing. I wanted to be a man, have a male body, and yet I was also attracted to men. My confusion with gender and sexuality was overwhelming, and I was stuck in a linguistic bubble, trying to make sense of myself with whatever scraps of information I could find in Russian. I read about “tomboy,” “butch,” “femboy,” and even “fag hag,” but none of it quite fit. Then, one night, I stumbled across the Wikipedia entry for “trans man.” I’d heard of trans women from scandalous Russian talk shows and the occasional foreign film, but trans men? At that time, the Russian Wikipedia article on “trans man” was just a single, pathetic paragraph. I could hardly believe it was a real thing, but deep down, I knew this was the answer I’d been searching for.

People often ask trans individuals, “When did you realize?” But for me, there was no single moment. It was a process of piecing together feelings I’d never had the words for—kind of like that scene in The Man From Earth when John Oldman, a man who’s lived for 45,000 years, is asked by a therapist, “When did you realize you were a caveman?” and he responds, “When I heard the word ‘caveman.’”

As always, I turned to movies to understand myself better. I found a clunky Russian website called KinoPoisk (Film Search), typed “LGBT” into the search bar, and watched every movie that came up. That’s how I discovered Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Breakfast on Pluto, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, and many more. Seeing LGBT characters on screen—characters who felt what I felt—was everything to a lost, confused teenager in the Russian countryside.

Over time, my obsession shifted to TV series fandoms like Doctor Who, Torchwood, and Star Trek. And when Sherlock BBC came out, my mom joined me, and we both dove headfirst into fandom life. She also started reading fanfiction, and before long, she was writing it herself. After all, who better to write fanfiction than a middle-aged Russian literature professor who knew everything about storytelling?

Gradually, my fixation shifted from Japan to Great Britain, and my mom was right there with me. Despite not knowing a word of English, we watched everything we could find featuring our favorite British actors. It became our shared dream to visit England someday, but we didn’t have the money. My mom’s salary was $250 a month, and she was supporting me and our elderly grandmother, who had a pension of $80. But that didn’t stop us. I remember surviving on instant noodles and cheap yogurt for an entire year just to save up enough to travel to the West and see it for the first time.

In 2012, we finally made it happen. We signed up for a cheap bus tour that went through Europe—Poland, the Czech Republic, Germany, Belgium, France, and the UK. It was life-changing. We saw a completely different world, cozy old towns that Russian cities had lost in WWII bombings, and we saw freedom. The first time we flew to London on our own, we bought tickets to a theater play featuring Mark Gatiss. Who would’ve guessed that on that very day, David Tennant, Steven Moffat, and his wife, Sue Vertue, would also be there! I awkwardly approached David Tennant and, in broken English, told him, “You are my lovely Doctor” (I meant to say “favorite” but didn’t know the word back then).

We ended up returning to London every year, going to theater plays with Benedict Cumberbatch, Tom Hiddleston, Andrew Scott, Rupert Grint, and others. We stayed in cheap hostels and survived on McDonald’s, but we were living the dream.

As time went on, LGBT rights in Russia only got worse. Books, movies, and TV shows that even mentioned LGBT topics started getting blocked under the guise of protecting children from “LGBT propaganda.” But what these government suits failed to understand was that if I hadn’t discovered all those things as a confused teenager, I might have ended my life. When the repression began affecting fanfiction writers, we had to be cautious. One girl in our town was sentenced under the new law simply for having a photo of two guys kissing in her VK (Russian Facebook) photo album. My mom was a university professor and the sole provider for me, an underage kid. If it was discovered that she wrote slash, she could’ve lost her job, gone to prison, and I could’ve been taken away. It was terrifying. I watched our vibrant community being slowly choked out, and I knew it was now or never. I had to transition while it was still legally possible, and I could only do that if I moved to Moscow, where the only trans center in the country was located.

After graduating, I deliberately skipped one of the mandatory exams, which made it essentially impossible for me to get into any university in Russia. My mom, always understanding, accepted my decision, but the rest of the family was devastated. I was one of the best students in class, scoring 100/100 on my Russian and English final exams—something that seemed like science fiction (well, I learned my English from science fiction, so…). And here I was, with these grades, choosing not to apply to any university but instead to work in a shop.

Transitioning was expensive—around $1,500 for all the tests and evaluations—but I knew that if I stayed in the countryside, I’d be tempted to give up, settle down, and try to “fix” myself. As Dr. Frank-N-Furter taught me, “Don’t dream it, be it.”

As soon as I turned 18, I moved from the countryside to Moscow. To receive the official F64.0 diagnosis—“transsexualism”—I had to endure a grueling year-long process of psychiatric evaluations and tests, just so I could change my documents and flee the country. By then, I was already passing as a guy, which made job hunting infinitely more difficult. I tried toy stores, cosmetic stores, hotel cleaning… but no one wanted to risk being prosecuted for “LGBT propaganda” by hiring someone as gender-ambiguous as me. After endless rejections, I finally found a place that didn’t care whether you were gay, straight, or trans. That’s how I ended up working at a sex shop.

I could write a whole TV show based on that year of my life—armed robberies, kidnapping attempts, constant workplace drama, and a psychotic manager who was stealing from our salaries. None of us were even officially registered as employees. I’d work 24-hour shifts back-to-back, sometimes spending more than 48 hours at the shop, sleeping on the floor during the three-hour break we got at night. There were zero regulations, but despite everything, I made good money, and most importantly, I finally felt like I belonged.

Our team was a ragtag group of rebels—kids fresh out of high school or from poverty, who had come from all over Russia to the Capital, searching for a better life. What united us was a shared desire for freedom in a country that was becoming more and more totalitarian.

While working, I was constantly attending the “Center of Personalized Psychiatry,” where I felt like a guinea pig for doctors who knew nothing about gender identity issues. It seemed they had simply found a vacant spot to make money off devastated and depressed trans people. At the time, there wasn’t even an official document format that could be submitted to the government to allow a legal sex change. So, I had to jump through every hoop they put in front of me—filling out ridiculous questionnaires that asked whether I preferred pink or blue as a kid or if I played with dolls or cars. They explicitly told me to answer “how I thought they wanted me to answer” if I wanted to get approved for hormone therapy. So, for them, I liked blue, played with cars, and watched football and boxing.

When I finally got approved for hormone therapy, I ran into another obstacle: the financial burden of getting a prescription from the center for every testosterone shot. The prescription itself cost almost as much as the medication. Desperate, I turned to sketchy websites from “pharmacies” that constantly changed their URLs. That’s how I started getting testosterone through drop-offs, which we called “bookmarks.” I’d pay for someone to leave it under a bench or behind a tree. It was risky but much cheaper.

After enduring the year of evaluations, I finally received the long-awaited free-form paper from the center stating my diagnosis and the basis for changing my documents. But just as I was preparing to submit it, the government decided to overhaul the process. They introduced an official format for the document—good in theory but disastrous for my timing. Worse still, they added a new requirement: you had to have had top surgery before you could legally change your gender.

I was devastated. Top surgery had always been a dream of mine, but I was sure it would take years to save enough money—it cost $1,200. That’s when my mom stepped in and offered to cover it with her savings. I cried so much. I wanted the surgery, but I knew we didn’t have the money to spare.

At that time, my mom said something that has stuck with me ever since: “We never have money, but at least we have the life we want.”

So, I did it. But my happiness was overshadowed by guilt. I felt guilty for spending so much money, for leaving my job, and for being incapacitated during my recovery—unable to even help my mother around the house. By then, my mother had already started working at a university in Moscow, and after being able to provide for myself at 18, I suddenly felt like a burden. My mother, however, never saw me that way; she was incredibly happy for me. We agreed not to tell the rest of the family about my transition just yet.

Returning to my hometown in the countryside to change my documents was an experience in itself. I fully expected to be treated with hostility, but to my surprise, the civil workers made no comments. I later learned that I was the second person to transition in my town—the first female-to-male—but they acted professionally. The only comment came when I visited the citizen registry center, where old women, who had probably worked there since Soviet times, were running the show. My mother went with me for support. When I silently handed the new-format document to the elderly woman at the desk, she studied it carefully, then looked up at my mother and, smiling, said, “You have a boy now? Congratulations!”

This all happened during the summer. I was jobless, with new documents, and the next step in my plan was to flee to the West. Around that time, a friend sent me a random ad for a filmmaking program at Tallinn University in Estonia. I had never even heard of this tiny Baltic country before, but it was part of the EU, and the tuition was surprisingly affordable. I never pictured myself making films, but I knew I wanted to do something creative, so I applied the day before the deadline, not expecting much. To my shock, I soon received an invitation letter.

But there was still one more step—changing my foreign passport. In Russia, we have a national passport (in Cyrillic) and an international passport (in English), which allows travel abroad. To change the international passport, I needed a paper from the military conscription office, stating that I, as a newly-registered male, didn’t have to serve in the army and was free to leave for studies. Of course, I didn’t have such a paper, since I had never been registered for conscription in the first place.

This led me to our local conscription office. As soon as I explained the situation to the lady at the desk, she told me to stay quiet and led me to her boss. The military commander, sitting in his shabby countryside office under a portrait of Putin hung on a wall with peeling paint, was utterly confused.

“But I can’t issue him this paper because he was never registered as a conscript, which should’ve happened when he turned 15!”

“But he was a she when he was 15, sir…” his young secretary chimed in, causing the commander to spit in frustration and slam his fist on the table.

They were in a real bind. If I had transitioned from male to female, it would’ve been easy—they’d just throw my case out of the archive. But there were no regulations for how to handle female-to-male trans people.

“Okay, I think I have an idea of what we can do. When can you come back to my office?” asked the commander.

“Um, maybe tomorrow…” I hesitated.

“No ‘maybe’!” the commander shot me a stern look. “You’re a man now, so be specific.”

Suddenly feeling like James Bond, the commander deemed my case his secret mission. The next day, I returned to his office and was briefed on his plan: he was going to falsify my conscription record, making it look as if I had been a biological male my entire life, complete with medical exams and military training. He assigned one of his lackeys to follow me through the necessary medical evaluations, ensuring no one asked me to undress. The doctors, who were in on the plan, discreetly noted what they were supposed to.

Eventually, I was invited back to the commander’s office for the final round of evaluations. With the blinds pulled down and the door locked, I stood in the center of the room, surrounded by a circle of white-coated doctors—urologists, proctologists, allergists, you name it.

“Take off all your clothes,” the commander ordered.

“Well, I’ve seen a film or two that started like this…” I thought to myself.

“Now, spin around—slowly,” he continued.

And there I was, with my ass naked, turning in a circle like some Frankenstein’s monster as the doctors scribbled notes in their notebooks.

“Did everybody see everything?” the commander asked, and the doctors nodded quickly. “Okay, dismissed.”

In the end, I was issued a military ticket marking me as category “B”—not suitable for mandatory military service (probably due to having a cunt, according to their reports), but eligible for drafting in case of war or a military operation.

With that, I received my new international passport and was off to Estonia.

I was incredibly happy. Every day, I would go to the old town square just to sit there, gazing at the medieval towers and thinking, “I made it… I finally made it!” It was everything I had dreamed of and more. No one cared how anyone looked, LGBT people had no restrictions, and I saw same-sex couples walking hand in hand on the streets. This was the “Western dream” I had been chasing my whole life. Yet, something seemed off…

Over time, I started to notice a certain level of hostility from the locals when they found out I was Russian. That surprised me, especially given that Estonia had been part of the Soviet Union and still had a population that was about 30% Russian. Slowly, I came to realize the harsh reality—in the history books I studied at school, there was only one mention of Estonia: “1940—Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia join the USSR.” One sentence in a history book, which meant nothing to me at the time, encapsulated this entire country’s national tragedy. They tolerated the remaining Russian population, but the deep-seated resentment was clear. However, they failed to understand one important thing—most of those Russians were also victims of the regime, just like the Estonians, Latvians, Lithuanians, Tatars, and countless others.

I vividly remember a moment when I was having a meeting with my new coworkers. After learning I was from Russia, one Estonian girl said, “My grandfather was repressed by Russians during Soviet times.”

“Mine too,” I replied, dumbfounded. She seemed confused. As I later found out, while our governments had their own agendas, their government had theirs. She was never taught that millions of ethnic Russians were also arrested alongside millions of national minorities.

This was something I had never anticipated. For the first time in my life, I wasn’t discriminated against because of my LGBT status, but because of my nationality.

I learned to live with it. I tried to adapt, not speaking Russian in public. Fortunately, my studies were in English, and my course was international, filled with people from all over the world—the U.S., Egypt, Germany, Nigeria, Latvia, Turkey… Honestly, the three years I spent studying film there were the best years of my life. Our professors were amazing, outgoing, incredibly creative, and they became our friends.

Yet, no one in my course, not even my closest friends, with whom I spent every day, knew that I was trans or the real reason I left Russia. They simply thought I was a biological male. After what I had been through in my own country, I still hesitated to share this part of myself, unsure of how they would react. It took a toll on my mental health, constantly coming up with stories to fill gaps in my history. Eventually, it became too much, and three years into our studies, I told everything to my four closest friends. They were surprised, to say the least, but endlessly supportive. I can’t even begin to describe how much I love them for that.

For my graduation film, I made a documentary—something I never imagined I would be interested in. Initially, I had ambitions to become a fiction director, but once I discovered that documentaries weren’t all just talking heads and British-accented voiceovers, I became captivated by them.

My graduation documentary was about my family—specifically, about my grandmother. My family, aside from my mother, still didn’t know I had transitioned. It had been four years at that point. I had a beard, a deep voice, and yet they still didn’t know. Every time I called them, I would try to make my voice sound more feminine (the story was that I got sick, lost my voice, and it permanently damaged my vocal cords). I love my family, and it’s precisely because I love them that I do this. I don’t want them to be ashamed or ostracized from their community. They live simple, rural lives. When my grandmother was born, Stalin was still alive. She had survived famine, unemployment, and disease, so she would never be able to understand this whole “transgender thing.”

The documentary did really good, with this idea, I got to attend pitching with BBC, Al Jazeera, CBC, Vice and many more industry giants. There were so many promises from big film festivals, so many opportunities. By the time I had graduated and was working a well-paid job, I was hoping to settle down in Estonia after four years of living there. Despite the country’s mixed reception towards me, I loved the place. It finally felt like home. A small, cozy home where I knew everything and everyone, with both personal and professional connections. I was learning Estonian, aiming to get citizenship, and dreaming of the future—the entire European Union would be open to me.

And then, on the 24th of February 2022, the war started. I can’t begin to describe what I felt—fear, grief, confusion. It’s too dark of a topic to delve into.

While I was scared and cried every day for my friends in Ukraine and my family on the Russian border, the war began to affect me directly, as a Russian living in the West. Deals I had with film festivals fell through because they didn’t want to seem like "Russia sympathizers" by screening a documentary directed by a Russian. The fact that my film was about the struggles of LGBT people in Russia, and clearly anti-regime, didn’t matter.

One of my friends was spat on while on the tram for speaking Russian to her mother on the phone. Another was refused entry to a thrift store because she was Russian. A close friend of mine, a well-known Russian-Estonian actor, was assaulted in a café while speaking Russian with his girlfriend. A man approached him, demanding that he kneel and beg for forgiveness for “starting the war in Ukraine.” When my friend, in perfect Estonian (he came from a mixed family with an Estonian father and Russian mother), reminded him of the Estonian constitution and its protection of freedoms, the man scoffed and said, “All Russians should have been deported from the very beginning.”

And it seemed like the government shared his beliefs. First, my residence permit was terminated due to my Russian citizenship. When I applied for a worker visa instead, I was handed a notice saying, “You are denied an Estonian visa for the reason of posing a danger to international relations, inner security, and the health of the Estonian population.” It felt like they thought I was carrying some sort of “Putin virus.” And this happened right after my documentary had been featured in the national competition at a local film festival, where I was representing Estonia...

It was the 27th of December 2022. I was given three days to leave the country—to sort out everything from the past four years, my entire life there.

It was then that I fully realized how fragile safety and belonging can be when they rest on the whims of politics and nationality. The dream I had spent years building crumbled in days. I was lost. I had no idea what to do. I couldn’t return to Russia—especially not after making such a personal documentary. The new laws there equated "LGBT movement" with extremist organizations. It wasn’t even safe for me to visit a doctor as a trans person. If they supported the regime, they could easily report me to the police, and I’d be arrested simply for having the body I have. Worse, I could be sent to the war—ironically, I was still marked as a biological male in Russian military records.

With no options left, I packed a tiny suitcase with essential items, left the rest of my belongings with friends, and bought a one-way ticket to Serbia—one of the few countries that still had visa-free entry for Russians. After the war began and the regime tightened its grip, Serbia had become a haven for hundreds of thousands of young Russians fleeing.

I met the new year of 2023 alone, in a strange country, watching fireworks from the balcony of a tractor driver named Stefan, who had rented me his Airbnb in the Belgrade suburbs.

Serbia turned out to be a completely different world compared to my experience in Estonia. I was still hesitant to reveal that I was Russian, but to my surprise, when I did, people mostly hugged me and invited me for a glass of rakija. Serbia has a long history with Russia—we were “brother nations,” and the Russian Empire had helped Serbia a lot in the past. That sentiment carried into how the locals saw Russians. Now, with so many of us in trouble and seeking refuge, they welcomed us with open arms.

The country itself wasn’t prosperous; it reminded me of the Russia of my childhood—shabby, torn apart, politically charged. I loved the people, and they seemed to love me back, but I knew I couldn’t stay. There were still many conservatives, and when I asked a bartender at a local underground gay bar about the situation for LGBT people, he laughed and said in broken English, “Like Russia, but small better.”

My plan was to apply for a German freelancer visa—I was making some money from video editing and color grading on the side, and I had a solid portfolio. I knew political asylum wasn’t an option. When the war began, I had tried to apply for asylum in Estonia, only to be told, “Have you been stabbed for being trans in Russia? No? Then call us back when you are.”

In Serbia, Russians were allowed a 30-day visa-free entry, so I joined what fellow expats called a “visa-run.” Every 30 days, someone would drive a packed minivan to the Bosnian border. We’d cross, stay in Bosnia for 15 minutes, smoke, and listen to stories of fellow Russians who had escaped. Then we’d return to Serbia, and our stay would reset. The local police knew about it and didn’t care—nothing illegal about it. I remember one time when we arrived during the border patrol’s lunch break. A young lady leaned out of the control booth, sandwich in hand, and asked, “Visa run?” When we nodded, she smiled and said she’d finish her tea before stamping our passports.

I lived like this for a year and a half in Serbia. It was nearly impossible to find a job without knowing Serbian, so I picked up small freelance editing gigs. Meanwhile, I was on a long waiting list for a German visa. Serbia had become a temporary stop for many Russians, especially LGBT people, trying to find a way into the EU.

However, after what I experienced in Estonia, my rose-colored glasses were off. I no longer viewed the West as a utopia. Every country has its problems, and there’s no true freedom anywhere in the world. Sadly, I had to learn this the hard way.

Throughout that year in Serbia, not much happened. I was extremely depressed and isolated, unsure of where my life was headed. So, I turned to what comforted me most—movies. I fell back into Star Trek. There’s something about its retro-futurism that helped me cope—I could lose myself either in the future or the past and forget about the present. I also started drawing again. I used to draw when I was a teenager and active in fandoms, but it had never really worked out for me. I still remember the first time I posted my art online—the first comment I got was a bunch of crying-laughing emojis.

Drawing helped me escape. Even while I was posting K/S smut, there were times when I had no money for food and was late on rent, all while my hometown was being bombed almost daily by Ukrainian forces. Immersing myself in the fandom helped me cope with the harshness of reality.

I had almost resigned myself to the idea that I would never be able to enter the West again. But then, one fateful day, I received the email I’d been waiting for—I was asked to pick up my visa. I cried and laughed; I couldn’t believe it.

The move to Germany was difficult. It’s a huge bureaucratic country, but I made it. My story isn’t finished yet—I’m still waiting for my residence permit, and God, I hope I get it. I know a bit of German, and I feel safe here, so I hope to settle down for good. For now, I work on my small business and draw K/S fan art on the side, finding solace in the creative space I’ve carved for myself. I’ve spent years running, surviving, and rebuilding. Where fate will take me next—I can’t be sure. But I know that whatever comes, I’ll face it as I always have—one step ahead, always moving forward.

[smbeech]

Fake Star, who has brought LM.C overseas for concerts and is a me cry seller for overseas fans, is hosting a go fund me for LM.C's 15th anniversary project. Please donate if you can.

[black-arcana]

HBD maya ! 30/07/18 by x-BlueberryHeart-x

[lazuliblade]

AnimeFest 2017 Day 1

I fell asleep yesterday before I could make the post...

Dealer’s Room opened late, but I stood in line for quite a while before then, so as soon as it opened, I was into the room and searching out YOI stuff (plus a couple of things to give as presents). My haul (for the first half of the day):

The can badge sets were actually on sale for $10 each, which was amazing. The embroidery of Yurio’s eyes is so pretty. The small poster (wall scroll, I guess) I got was of Yuuri and Victor in Moscow’s Red Square.

I was looking through the kimono stand (I’m always looking for pieces to finish my set)  and the people helping are AWESOME. Not only is the booth/stand filled with gorgeous pieces and simple pieces at all price points to fit a budget, the ladies are very helpful to both the people who have no clue what any of the names are for pieces, and to those who have worn a full ensemble and need specific little things. They shared the story of how they got this business running (3 years of research, planning, and connecting with Japanese salesmen), and were always ready to turn around and answer another question - even though they were running on little sleep. While they had super nice kimono on the racks (the furisode were so gorgeous I wanted to cry), the booth also had grab bags which ranged from $20 to $50. The $20 bags were usually haori (the coat that goes over kimono), $30 were simple kimono with obi, $40-50 are nicer kimono with obi. Some of the descriptions on the grab bags were hilarious! ( “It looks like a basket. Seriously. If you don’t like baskets, don’t get this.” “What a jedi warrior would wear if he wore kimono” “Green and black and [...] perfect for a SLYTHERIN~” “It’s Blue. ‘Nuf said.”)  I should have taken pictures....

I dashed from there to wait in line for the Japanese Guests Autograph Session, but the line was ridiculously long! I was in Block C of the waiting section and not even half of Block B got signatures. If you were there for people besides the YOI trio, they would let you go to those people you wanted to sign your stuff. Apparently some people in the A block of the line were waiting since 10am even though the staff said you couldn’t line up until an hour beforehand. For the remaining days of the con, they’re apparently going to be roping off the area until the hour before, so I guess we’ll see how Day 2 goes?

I went back to the kimono booth to actually buy stuff (they had set my stuff aside), grabbed a snack, and then went to wait with friends for the first YOI panel -- “Yuri!!! On Ice: Meet the Creative Staff”

While waiting in line I met Denki and won a poster for answering her hard question! (Thanks, @sachiro for pointing her out and encouraging me to go ask.)

My question was: “Which four skaters can do the 4Lo?”

I met a mother&daughter couple in the line (the mother was just as much a fan as her daughter. It was so touching!), gave the daughter a small push to actually approach Denki, and she did well to get her own poster. Denki isn’t scary!

There was some amazing cosplay and itabags I saw while waiting through the hour. One person was dressed as Chihoko! Golden fish tail and everything.

When the door opened, we filed in and were directed down the rows to fill every seat. They gave us posters (I guess?) at the door which were printed on fairly thick paper. I ended up second row left-of-center, right in front of Sayo and Kubo!

I’ll put the interview/talk in a separate post because I took notes on what they said and it deserves a separate entry. To make it short, they talked about American figure skaters (Nathan Chen, Adam Rippon, Jason Brown, and Max Aaron), how they learned of each other and met, the relationship between them, and a few notes. When talking about character designs Hiramatsu has formerly done, they mentioned about the dynamic poses in figure skating and the plentiful crotch and butt shots... I believe some people have already noted how Kubo spread tissue-box-Makka’s legs while Hiramatsu covered him. They were so great. At the end, the threw some freebies to the crowd. I managed to catch a pair of gloves!

After the panel was over, a few of us went to go check out the art show where some of Kubo’s pieces were hanging - both YOI and previous works. I was amazed at seeing everything up close. Her line quality is absolutely gorgeous. I browsed through the rest of the art auction pieces and as we were leaving we saw Kubo-sensei! She was looking at her hanged pieces and just starting to leave. Sayo was waiting outside of the room (her sunglasses were off!), and then Hiramatsu-san passed us to get into the room (he greeted us “Hello!”). 

From there, I browsed through artists’ alley (”Bizarre Bazaar”), bought some gorgeous prints from someone whom I reblog a lot of fanart (I’ll put the links to the specific art later!), dropped off my stuff, grabbed a quick snack, and off to Opening Ceremonies at Dallas’ Majestic theater.

It was amusing and interesting to hear what the different guests had to say. Sayo reiterated how she was invited to Anime Fest years before YOI - ever since “Lupin III: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine.” She was in contact with the guy from then on and would tell him about the cool figure skating project she was trying to have green-lit. She said that he invited her again to come to the con after the anime aired and he had more faith in her project than the producers did. So this is why AnimeFest was one of the first cons that confirmed Kubo, Sayo, and Hiramatsu as guests.

LM.C were hilarious. Aiji gave well-thought-out answers, while maya gave short somewhat deadpan responses that had us laughing. *holds hand up to eyes to look out into the crowd; turns head*  “I’ve memorized all of your faces. You’ll come to the concert tomorrow, right?”

After it was over, my group went to In-N-Out Burger for our first decent meal of the day. When we returned to the hotel, I meant to just curl up to absorb some warmth, but then fell asleep...

I’m planning to go to a lot of evening and night events in Day 2, so I’ll see how tired I am after all of it.

[kami-lollipop]

Entrevista Especial con LM.C

Entrevistador y traducción al inglés por Olga / fotografía: LM.C Official link: http://livejapanmusic.com/lmc-special-interview/

Traducción al español: Kami Roze (@lmc_mexico)

 Desde el 2006 LM.C ha rockeado Japón y otros países, en esta entrevista especial podrán saber más sobre este asombroso dúo.

 Entrevistador: Primero que nada, ¡Feliz cumpleaños Maya!

 maya: Gracias. Estoy comiendo pastel ahora

 Oh, genial. ¿Qué tipo de pastel es el que estas comiendo?

 maya: ayer fue un evento, así que me voy a comer el pastel que recibí ahí.

 Bueno, gracias por darnos la oportunidad de tener una entrevista con ustedes. Ustedes tienen muchos fans extranjeros, pero no hay muchas entrevistas en inglés, por lo que los fans extranjeros tienen muchos problemas para tener más información sobre ustedes. Nosotros en LIVE JAPAN MUSIC queremos darles está oportunidad de cambiarlo y esparcir más información de ustedes alrededor del mundo. Primero que nada, por favor podrían hacer una cordial introducción hacía nuestros lectores.

 maya: Soy el vocalista de LM.C, maya. Mucho gusto.

Aiji: Soy el guitarrista, Aiji. ¡Mucho gusto!

  El nombre de su banda, LM.C, empieza por lovely-mocochang.com. ¿qué pueden decirnos sobre el significado?

 maya: De hecho, no tiene significado. El origen es por ‘lovely-mocochang.com’, pero después decidimos que ese sería el nombre de nuestra banda, no está limitado a tener un significado. LM.C se supone que no tiene significado y es más como un símbolo de nuestro nombre en grupo. Después de que le dimos un vistazo rápido a LM.C, decidimos que se quedaría. La primera razón por la que elegimos lovely-mocochang.com fue por algo así como una broma, pero cuando tomamos las primeras letras y las juntamos quedo ‘LM.C’ y sonaba bien, se veía bien también, así que se quedó como el nombre de nuestra banda.

 De hecho ‘LM.C’ tiene un buen sonido.

 maya: Así que mi respuesta es esa, no tiene un significado en especial.

 LM.C se formó en el 2006, pero por favor cuéntenos sobre su primer encuentro.

 maya: Nosotros somos de la misma ciudad natal. Ambos nacimos y nos criamos en Nagano, así que esa fue una razón por la que nos conocimos, pero en ese tiempo fue 10 años antes de que LM.C se formara, en 1996.

  ¿Recuerdan cuál fue su primera impresión el uno del otro?

 maya: Vi a Aiji por primera vez tocando en un concierto en Nagano. En aquel tiempo yo era un estudiante, y no había tocado en una banda aún. El era muy carismático y fantástico (risas).

  Entonces, ¿se conocieron en un concierto?

 maya: Así es. Pero en ese tiempo, no nos conocimos como tal, porque solamente fui a verlo tocar en el concierto. Aún así fue genial. Es una vieja historia (risas) Era una gran sorpresa ver a una persona en el escenario que había nacido y vivido en el mismo lugar que yo. Recuerdo que sentía que Nagano es el lado campirano de Japón.

 Aiji: No tengo ningún recuerdo de nuestro primer encuentro, porque en ese momento maya era un chico que parecía esconder su propia presencia. Para mi, el era como una piedra. Como musgo en una piedra (risas).

  ¿Esa impresión a cambiado?

 Aiji: Hemos compartido muchas comidas y pasado mucho tiempo juntos, entre más lo hacemos, más puedo conocer de él. Pero creo que aún ahora, solamente he aprendido un 40% de él. Él es difícil de entender. Todavía me encuentro en un proceso de ir  conociendo a maya. Siempre es como un Big Bang  explotando en el mundo de maya que aún no he conocido, y se expande más y más. En general conozco más o menos bien a maya, y creo que es una persona fascinante, profundo, y lleno de encanto. Creo que es la manera en que mejor puedo describirlo. Aunque como dije al principio, él es más como el musgo en una piedra (risas).

 maya: Eso es imposible de entender (risas).

 ¿Qué es lo que les hizo querer ser músicos? ¿Hay algún artista que les haya inspirado en particular?  

 maya: Me empezó a interesar las bandas cuando tenía 10 años, y escuche las canciones que se usaron para la película de X JAPAN. La canción es ‘ENDLESS RAIN’ y creí que quien la escribió era hermoso y maravilloso.  Empecé desde ese momento.

 Aiji: Cuando era un estudiante de secundaria, comencé a interesarme un poco en la música. Cuando entré a la preparatoria, hubo un evento de la escuela para dar la bienvenida a los nuevos estudiantes y vi a una banda de estudiantes mayores tocar en el escenario. En ese momento, pensé que me gustaría hacerlo también. Así que esa fue la razón por la que empecé una banda. La banda que más me influenció fue BUCK TICK. Realmente los admiro.

 ¿Qué significa visual kei para ustedes?

 maya: Trabajo (risas). ¡Estoy bromeando! Estoy bromeando, pero cuando tenía 10 años, el visual kei no existía como un término aún, ahora es un genero y lo hace más fácil de entender. Han pasado como unos 20 años, creo. Chicos que usan ostentoso maquillaje…especialmente chicos japoneses que usan maquillaje excéntrico. Al principio, fue difícil de entender. Creo que era un genero extremadamente agresivo, alternativo y sensacional, que continuó estableciéndose en la cultura hasta convertirse en visual kei. Ahora estamos teniendo está conversación y creo que es una maravillosa parte de la cultura japonesa de la cual me siento orgulloso. Seré muy feliz si continua existiendo, es una cultura como ninguna otra y la seguiré amando.

 Aiji: Para ponerlo en palabras simples, cuando era joven, las bandas que admiraba usaban maquillaje y hacían música genial. Por lo tanto para mi el visual kei representa “lo genial”. El acto de pararte enfrente de un escenario usando maquillaje en si, es un sello de genialidad. Como el ‘honor’ y el ‘orgullo’ de los samurais.

  ¿Tienen algún pasatiempo además de la música?

 Aiji: A mi realmente me gusta viajar. Amo viajar y jugar videojuegos. A pesar de que me gustan las ciudades como mi destino de viaje, pero prefiero las islas sureñas, con toda esa naturaleza. Mayormente voy a las playas, pero también me encantan las montañas.

 maya: En estos días he disfrutado de escuchar música a todo volumen. A pesar de que trabajo como músico profesional desde hace 10 años, nunca he escuchado tantos géneros de música como lo he hecho recientemente. Normalmente escuchaba bandas como X JAPAN, quienes son los fundadores del visual kei, J-POP, y canciones como Kayokyoku. No crecí escuchando música de otros países, pero 5 años atrás comencé finalmente a interesarme en ella y escucharla. Recientemente como es más fácil escuchar música de todo el mundo, disfruto escuchando mi música favorita por Amazon Music a todo volumen.

 ¿Hay algún artista que les interese ahora?

 maya: Últimamente los idols coreanos. Igual he buscado otro tipo de músicos coreanos aunque no sean tan famosos para escucharla. También hay listas de popularidad de música, así que me gusta escucharlos, como las listas de dance electro y la lista de pop a todo volumen. Usualmente es Lady Gaga quien está en los primeros puestos. También  he escuchado a Halsey. ¡Hay muchísimos! No se si lo puedes llamar un pasatiempo, pero escuchar música es divertido.

  ¿Qué les gustaría estar haciendo ahora, si no fueran músicos?

 Aiji: Me gusta hacer cosas, así que creo que sería diseñador o alfarero. Hacer platos y ollas. Lo hice en mis veintes y realmente lo disfrutaba. Creo que me gustaría ser un alfarero o diseñador.

 maya: Definitivamente no encajo con un trabajo ordinario así que… ¿qué podría ser?  ¡Sería Yotuber! Se me acaba de ocurrir(risas). Cambiare mi respuesta. Hace poco he comenzado a aprender más sobre los entrenamientos de peso. Me gustaría abrir un pequeño gimnasio. No soy un experto, pero podría ofrecer consejo y entrenamiento de cuerpo para ser un entrenador fitness. ¡Un gimnasio! Abriré un gimnasio.

 Aiji: Lo has cambiado por un “abriré” (risas).

 maya: Pero solo si fuera ahora. Si no tuviera LM.C como primer lugar, no lo haría. Creo que mi entrenamiento es una extensión de LM.C, pero ahora podría ser algo relacionado con el entrenamiento.

  Siguiente, me gustaría preguntarles sobre sus canciones. Han lanzado su nuevo CD ‘Brand New Songs’ en Abril de 2020 y ha sido su primer lanzamiento desde hace 2 años, ¿como han pasado estos dos años?

 Aiji: Realmente ha pasado mucho tiempo.

 maya: En realidad ha pasado un año y medio. Bueno hemos hecho canciones poco a poco.

 Aiji: Después de todo, tuvimos una larga gira con ‘FUTURE SENSATION’, así que no siento como que haya pasado tanto tiempo desde nuestro último lanzamiento. También hemos hecho nuevas canciones durante las giras.

  ¿Cómo se siente grabar un nuevo single después de tanto tiempo?

 maya: No hemos ido al estudio. Lo hacemos de manera remota, vía telegrabación, trabajamos separados y no en un estudio juntos.

 Aiji: Siempre lo hemos hecho de esa manera. Trabajamos juntos cuando se hace la mezcla, pero el resto del proceso de grabación lo hacemos de manera individual. Lo hemos hecho así durante estos 10 años, así que no se siente raro.

Maya: Pero aún así me gustan las reuniones.

 Aiji: ¡¿Qué?! (risas).

  ¿Qué es lo que más disfrutan de la producción de canciones?

 Aiji: No hay nada divertido en la producción de una canción. Es más bien un poco pesado, y me presiono mucho a mi mismo. Producir demos con los miembros y el staff, escucharlos es realmente agotador. Solamente cuando decidimos una canción poco a poco se vuelve divertido. Es divertido desde si lo ves desde el punto en que trabajamos y producimos con personas, intercambio información con maya, hablamos y checamos.

 maya: Para mi es divertido todo el tiempo …

 Aiji: ¡¿Qué?! (risas)

 maya: Recientemente lo es. ¡Recientemente! Porque parece que ahora tengo más tiempo. Hace 10 años  el tiempo que teníamos por cada lanzamiento era muy corto y sacábamos muchos CD’s, así que era muy cansado. Si lo comparas el ahora con esos tiempos donde tenía que escribir tantas letras y trabajábamos en tantas canciones. Pero durante ese tiempo no era duro o no divertido, era más bien agotador todo lo que teníamos que hacer. Comparado con esos tiempos, ahora tengo mucho más tiempo libre, mi mente está tranquila y tengo experiencia, así que creo que ahora soy capaz de escribir letras con más calma. Pero aún así, no he podido escribir ninguna últimamente. Así que la grabación es la parte divertida. Creo que el trabajo de grabar canciones y nueva música en casa es divertido.

 Nos encantaría saber cuál es su canción favorita de ‘Brand New Songs’ y la razón del porque la eligieron.

 Aiji: Todas fueron hechas con amor, pero una de ellas parece tener una ligera diferencia en el estilo previo de las canciones de LM.C y es ‘Campanella’. Creo que es una canción que pudimos escribir porque han pasado 14 años.

 maya: Si escogiera una canción diferente, probablemente sería ‘Happy Zombies’, de la cual hicimos un vídeo. Estoy esperando a que se termine. En contraste con ‘Campanella’, es una canción más pegajosa con partes pop, así que creo que es muy del estilo de LM.C

  ¿De dónde toman inspiración para sus canciones?

 maya: Para mi, no es una cosa directamente donde encuentro mi motivación, inspiración, impulsos y motivos para hacerlas,  es más  bien de mis pasatiempos como  los juegos o pescar. Pero creo que solamente vivir se convierte en una conexión para la próxima canción. Siento que el día a día, todo lo que me rodea está conectado con la música. Diría que capto mis emociones y las cosas que me mueven en mi vida tanto como me es posible. No quiero perderme de algo pequeño o trivial en ningún momento en el que me he movido, y quiero tomar inspiración de eso. Creo que me inspiro en todo. Desde que escucho mucha música últimamente, creo que la música me inspira y es diferente a lo que hemos hecho antes.

 Aiji: para mi, es algo similar a lo que dice maya, pero a menudo me inspiro en imágenes. Por ejemplo, estoy muy interesado en el arte, por eso es que me gusta ir a museos. Suelo sentirme inspirado por la escena de una película o algo más visual. Me baso relativamente, pero tengo pasatiempos muy específicos, así que siento que no es muy claro saber que es lo que me motiva a crear música, pero está conectado con las inspiración. Pienso que es importante saber que es lo que te gusta cuando haces arte o música, y también saber cuál es tu fuente de inspiración.

 Hablando de conciertos. ¿Qué rutina o ritual tienen para antes de un concierto?

 maya: Me pongo el audífono monitor In-Ear.

 Aiji; Eso es el trabajo (risas)

 maya: No tengo ningún tipo de rutina. Hay algunas cositas que arreglar. Como el audífono monitor, que algunas veces olvido. Pero si no lo tengo, no podemos empezar el concierto.

 Aiji: No tengo una rutina en particular.

 Y cómo es normalmente la decisión de la lista de canciones para un concierto

 maya: Hago unas sugerencias y entonces decidimos juntos. Básicamente elijo las canciones que se adapten al concierto y que me parece que van con el ambiente. Creo que se ha vuelto mi deber, desde que el vocalista hace los MCs (comentarios) y necesito pensar en el ambiente.

 Y cómo es el proceso de hacer una lista de canciones para un concierto en el extranjero?

 maya: Depende del país al que iremos. Si es un país que no hemos visitado desde hace tiempo, tocaremos algo más clásico de LM.C y elegiremos las mejores canciones de todas las que hemos lanzado hasta ese momento. Hay una diferencia que depende del país, por ejemplo, varias veces hemos ido a Taiwán con la gira del álbum, así que en ese caso, nos basamos en la lista del álbum. Nuestros sentimientos son los mismos, creo. En el momento en que creamos una lista de canciones a manera concienzuda y pensando detalladamente las canciones que el público quiere escuchar. No vamos a tocar las canciones más recientes en un país donde no hemos ido desde hace mucho tiempo. Depende del país y de las personas.

 Aiji: Creo que el vocalista es como un narrador quien va creando la atmosfera en un concierto, por lo tanto, considero que lo mejor es que el vocalista, especialmente si el vocalista que ha escrito las letras, sea quien decida el ritmo del concierto. Así es como lo hemos hecho. Básicamente, nunca me he opuesto a una de las listas que maya propone. Ha habido veces en las que realmente no lo siento así, entonces hago mis propias propuestas, pero durante estos 13, casi 14 años, solo ha pasado un par de veces. Confío mucho en él.

 maya: ¡Muchas gracias!

 Aiji: Diría que has progresado mucho desde ser un musgo sobre una piedra! (risas)

 maya: Eso no suena muy convincente (risas)

 Aiji: Es porque es un wabi sabi (estética japonesa)

 maya: ¡Ni si quiera una persona japonesa entendería eso! (risas).

  Han tocado en el extranjero en varias ocasiones pero, ¿les gustaría hacerlo de nuevo y a qué países les gustaría volver?

 Aiji: Me encantaría ir cada año. Cada vez que lanzamos algo nuevo, me encantaría poder combinar la gira en Japón con la del extranjero. Hay muchos fans que vienen a Japón desde Europa, América y de todo el mundo. Siempre hemos pensado que mientras tengamos esos fans nos encantaría ir a tocar en cada uno de sus países.

 maya: Así es. Si fuera posible me encantaría ir ahora mismo. Si hay personas que nos esperan, entonces estaré encantado de ir en cualquier momento. Y también me gustaría ir a Alemania. En lugar de ir a nuevos países y conocer personas que saben de nosotros, nos gustaría ir a los países donde las fans nos quieren y donde nos esperan.

 Aiji: Quisiera hacer una gira por Europa. Porque hemos ido a Estados unidos últimamente, pero no hemos podido ir a Europa para nada. Me gustaría ir de nuevo a todos los lugares donde ya hemos tocado en Europa. Nos gustaría poder verlos y sentir como nuestros fans nos han estado esperando, y tocar tantos conciertos como podamos ahí. También Múnich en Alemania es una hermosa ciudad. Me gustaría incluso vivir ahí.

 maya: ¡Nos hemos quedado en Frankfurt por 10 días! Aquella vez en el 2012 cuando un volcán hizo erupción en Islandia, no podíamos regresar a Japón.

 Aiji: Mientras estuvimos en Alemania por mucho, caminábamos por el río Rhine, por las calles en frente de la estación de tren de Frankfurt y ahí vendían salchichas Frankfurt, ¿verdad? Recuerdo que las salchichas Frankfrut estaban deliciosas en verdad. Es una comida tipica de la cual pueden estar orgullosos.

  Entonces, si pudieran tocar solamente 3 canciones en un concierto largo de 2 horas, ¿Qué canciones elegirían? Pueden cambiar las versiones de las canciones, pero solamente pueden ser 3. Y por favor, díganos las razones de su elección.

  Aiji: Que limitado (risas).

 maya:  Esté año en el 2020, hemos sacado justamente 3 canciones, ‘Campanella’, ‘No Emotion’, y ‘Happy Zombies’. Creo que esas tres sería interesante.

 Aiji: 3 canciones…. ¡Ahora mismo elegiría algo que sea movido. Siendo así, elegiría algo para agotarnos como ‘MOGURA’, ‘METALLY’ y ‘@FUNNY PHANTOM@’! Esas canciones son muy intensas y con el ritmo muy rápido.

  ¿Qué canciones o que álbum les recomendarían a nuestros lectores que escuchen si aún no conocen LM.C?

 maya: Si no nos conocen aún …. Depende del país.

 Aiji: En verdad eres muy molesto (risas).

 maya: El más reciente ‘FUTURE SENSATION’… ¿Puedo elegir dos albums?  (risas). Elegiría los dos últimos. Creo que escuchando ‘VEDA’ y ‘FUTURE SENSATION’ las personas podrían entender muy bien nuestra música.

 Aiji: Si escuchar nuestro primer álbum ‘SUPER GLITTER LOUD BOX’ y el más reciente ‘FUTURE SENSATION’, podrías sentir nuestra historia y como hemos ido avanzando en cada una de nuestras canciones. La portada del disco ‘FUTURE SENSATION’ fue hecha por un artista reconocido internacionalmente llamado Tadanori Yokoo, tuvimos la oportunidad de colaborar con él y hacer una genial composición. Él es un artista asombroso y agresivo; no pensarías que tiene 84 años. El tenía 82 cuando hizo la pieza para ‘FUTURE SENSATION’ pero su trabajo es muy dinámico, poderoso y agresivo con un gran sentido del uso de los colores. No puedes adivinar su edad, y me gusta que las personas puedan disfrutar de la obra.

 ¿Tienen alguna meta en particular o algo que les gustaría cumplir en el futuro?

 maya: Hemos planeado un turno en Japón esté otoño. Me gustaría poder llevarlo a acabo sin importar como. Ahora mismo, no podemos hacer los conciertos como normalmente se hacían, así que quiero hacer todo lo posible para poder realizarlos aún si tenemos que cambiar el estilo de nuestros conciertos

 Aiji: Ahora es difícil poder llevar a cabo un concierto, me gustaría poder realizar el itinerario planeado con todos los conciertos que sean posible realizarse. Si fuera un científico diría que me gustaría hacer la vacuna contra el coronavirus, pero no lo soy así que tocaremos tantos conciertos como nos sean posible.

  Y ¿en que están recientemente?

 Aiji: Como ya dije, mis pasatiempos son viajar y jugar videojuegos, hay un juego de PS4 que se llama ‘Ghost of Tsushima’ el cual trata de un fuerte espíritu de un samurái y podrías pensar que esté juego fue creado para las personas extranjeras. Es un juego que te hace sentir el orgullo japonés, el honor y el espíritu. El espíritu de un Samura es genial. Es asombroso que hayan podido plasmarlo en un juego y no solo en las películas.

 maya: no es un pasatiempo como tal, pero me gusta estar saludable. Estando saludable he conocido más sobre mi mismo y que entrenar es divertido. La información cambia constantemente así que es divertido aprender.

  ¿Qué consejos le darías a tu yo más joven?

 maya: Creo que siempre nos hemos dicho que los conciertos son más de lo que pensamos, que son valiosos o más bien especiales, porque me hacen feliz. Sin embargo, me he enseñado más apropiadamente esto. No es como si algo así fuera a pasar en el futuro pero quisiera que mi yo más joven supiera más de lo que me dije en el pasado y que no desperdicie el tiempo. Quiero decirles que no están haciendo genial.

 Aiji: Es simple, me gustaría decirle ‘por favor vive confiando en tu intuición’. Recordando el pasado, me di cuenta que pude haber tomado mejores decisiones de las que tome en ese momento, así que eso es lo que me diría.

  Y por último, pero no menos importante, por favor denos un mensaje final para sus fans extranjeros.

 Aiji: Hay muchas personas alrededor del mundo que están sufriendo daños financieros y económicos debido al coronavirus, así que creo que el coronavirus en particular está más fuerte en Europa y Estados Unidos, en comparación con Asia. Así que que creo que en estos tiempos difíciles, me haría feliz que pudieran escuchar  la música de LM.C y sentirse un poco cerca de nosotros. Una vez que esta situación termine, vendrá esa oportunidad en la que podamos tener conciertos alrededor del mundo de nuevo y LM.C hará su mejor esfuerzo para crear ese futuro. Así que llegará su momento, vamos a luchar juntos contra nuestro ‘enemigo invisible’.

  maya: ¿Cómo están chicos? Las actividades de LM.C continúan. Aunque ahora no podemos hacer un concierto normal en Japón, y tener un concierto en el extranjero ahora es en verdad imposible, nunca olvidaremos a nuestros fans extranjeros, y desde ahora y siempre nunca nos olvidaremos de ustedes. Así que no se preocupen por el tiempo que se tome, mientras LM.C exista nosotros esperamos poder ir a verlos de nuevo, así que no olviden a LM.C. Quiero que estén felices. Tenemos canciones anteriores y ahora estamos haciendo nuevas canciones y un vídeo, así que por favor esperen por ello. Si algo llegará a pasar, me pueden mandar mensajes en mis redes sociales, tengan por seguro que lo leeré.

No se olviden de seguir a LM.C en Spotify y Apple Music

[lmcmexico]

Reseña del cumpleaños de Maya 2018 Parte 2

Texto original en inglés escrito por Smbeech: https://smbeech.tumblr.com/post/176540019648/mayas-birthday-countdown-part-two Las fotos son propiedad de Smbeech y pueden verlas en la publicación original. Traducción al español por Kami Roze del equipo de LM.C México.

Nada puede ser más perfecto.Como estaba diciendo Aiji hizo de presentador y olvide mencionar que cuando llegamos Mr. Ueno (Ryan Japonés) nos dijo que Aiji había planeado una sorpresa para Maya. Nos dijo una frase que Aiji diría como la señal, la cual era “Bueno como es tu cumpleaños…” y entonces nosotros gritaríamos “Felicidades” y dispararíamos las serpentinas. (no se como se llaman los clásicos que se ven en los animes en los cumpleaños.)

El evento empezó con el conteo a la media noche. Aiji y Maya salieron al escenario como a los 15 minutos antes de media noche. Ellos dijeron algunas bromas y su interacción era muy graciosa y adorable. Estoy segura que esa podría ser su segunda profesión. Cuando faltaban 10 segundos para la hora, contamos hasta el 0 en japonés y le deseamos un “Feliz Cumpleaños!” Cantamos la canción de feliz cumpleaños y entonces Aiji nos dio la señal con la que lanzamos nuestras serpentinas. La cortina detrás de ellos se levantó dejando ver globos dorados que deletreaban la frase “Happy Birthday” (Feliz cumpleaños) junto con fuegos artificiales. Aiji hizo una broma sobre que se suponía que debería decir “Maya” junto a “Happy Birthday” pero el tifón lo voló. Unas cuantas bromas más y un poco más de conversación, pasamos a la parte de los vídeos de felicitaciones. Hubieron dos, primero fue el de Yukke de MUCC. El video comenzaba con Yukke cantando happy birthday para el, pero el audio parecía desfasado y en el vídeo se veía a Yukke haciendo una reverencia, parecía que había alguna falla. Maya se volteo para ver que Yukke en realidad estaba al fondo en el salón cantando. El se acercó, pasando entre las fans y subió al escenario. Solamente puedo asumir que Yukke estaba molestando a Maya y se notaba mucho por la cara que tenia. Pasó de una sonrisa a una expresión de terror. Aparentemente, Maya no tenía idea de que Yukke aparecería. Oye, es de mala suerte si nadie se cuela a tu fiesta no? Yukke le regaló a maya un ramo de flores e intento abrazarlo, pero Maya se alejo corriendo. Lo persiguió por el escenario tratando de abrazarlo pero no pudo atraparlo. Maya no se detuvo hasta quedarse lejos de el. Aún así Yukke intentaba poner sus manos sobre Maya pero nuestro Rey siempre se alejaba.

No hay abrazos para Yukke…eso me hace cuestionarme muchas cosas….Estoy casi segura que Yukke debió molestar a maya con algún comentario sobre la forma del globo de ‘Y’ al final de Happy porque este estaba arrugado.

El telón se bajo y Yukke bajo del escenario. El telón se volvió a levantar y Yukke seguía ahí de pie, haciendo la forma de la letra ‘Y’ con su cuerpo. Todos empezaron a reír y Maya tomo unas fotos de el. Yukke enseguida regreso y habló un poco más y se sentó en un asiento al fondo en la parte de la audiencia. El siguiente video fue de Yoshiki deseándole feliz cumpleaños. Maya se veía muy emocionado, empezó a “fangirlear” lo cual nunca pensé que vería. Incluso repitió el vídeo 4 veces. Se veía muy feliz. Nunca me había puesto a pensar en el hecho de que las celebridades admiran a otras celebridades. A Maya realmente le gusta Yoshiki. No se mucho de el, no se mucho de otros artistas que no sean LM.CDespués de que trajeran el pastel, Maya sopló las velitas y comenzó a comerlo. Creo que nuestro chico se comió una octava parte o más del pastel. Todos estábamos sorprendidos de lo mucho que se comió. Incluso Aiji hizo un comentario de eso y Maya le respondió y enseguida siguió comiendo. Finalmente se detuvo. Se que las paletas que Maya puede ser un truco, pero parece que realmente le gusta lo dulce. Aiji menciono de nuevo que no había un “Maya” junto al Happy Birthday. Así que el telón se bajo y maya salió del escenario para luego levantar el telón nuevamente justo junto a los globos. Ahora había un Maya junto. Hizo un montón de poses tontas, mientras Aiji y el manager tomaban fotos. Se tomo también unas cuantas selfies y luego regreso a su lugar.Tenía una de sus selfies puestas en la pantalla y le agrego orejas y bigotes de conejo. Para cerrar la noche, vimos el vídeo completo de ‘Chaindreamers’ a y también escuchamos la canción de ‘Virtual Quest’. Esta genial, creo que en verdad vamos a amar el nuevo álbum. Finalmente, Maya y Aiji nos agradecieron y comenzó a llover confeti. Era más como glitter gigante, estaba por todas partes….¡Todas partes! Terminé con mi bra lleno de confeti…. Eso suena como una canción country, “Bra full-aConfetti”. La velada terminó a las 2:30 de la mañana y me dormí casi a las 3:30 de la mañana, nos tuvimos que levantar temprano a las 6 am porque el desayuno se servía a las7. Debo decirles que ambos, los fans y LM.C estábamos muertos de cansancio al día siguiente. Alrededor de las 9:30 de la mañana nos juntamos para despedirnos de los chicos. Nos llamaron en el autobús para la firma de autógrafos.

Cuando llegué con ellos Aiji comenzó a hablarme de nuevo, esta vez el me pregunto en un buen inglés de dónde era, y le dije que de Nueva York. Creo que maya pensó que Aiji me estaba preguntando dónde nos conocimos, porque no dejaba de decir “Pittsburg, Pittsburgh”. Pero no estoy segura que quizá decir Aiji.

Aiji se veía como si quisiera decirme más, porque trataba pero la fila seguía avanzando.

Aún sigo en shock

1) Aiji me habló 2) El inicio la conversación

Lo cual es raro porque el siempre es tímido y no parece tener ganas de hablar mucho y porque a los demás solo las saludaba y no decía mucho más. Fue surreal. No era la única extranjera pero era la única no asiática. Así que resaltaba. Aún así se sintió bien, no voy a mentir. Me costó mucho no fangirlear en ese momento. Cuando me toco con Maya, me pregunto mi nombre y se lo dije pero el no sabía como escribirlo, así que le enseñe mi gafete. Aún cuando mi nombre estaba en katakana el lo deletreó mal y cuando me di cuenta el estaba como “Ah!” Dibujo un corazón alrededor y escribió mi nombre de nuevo, pero escribió solamente “Shan”. El no será juzgado por mi, soy la peor en deletrear y además tengo el nombre más feo del mundo. Después partimos en el autobús para regresar a Shinjuku. Fue una gran experiencia y espero que el fan club se abra para fans internacionales muy pronto porque es genial que todos puedan tener la oportunidad de asistir a este tipo de eventos. Es mas como una experiencia intima, y puedes ver mejor sus personalidades.

Escanearé las photo cards que recibí cuando regrese a casa en los Estados Unidos.  

[melto]

I see you are a man of taste as a fellow LM.C fan.

omg.....we literally invented having good taste. lm.c was my first concert actually KEOFKDKCKF

[mokkoriness]

alicenine. DI:GA Interview (Part One), October 2019

alicenine. restarting! This is an interview with all members about the feelings in that name, and the live shows with three different themes (Part 1)!

A9 are restarting as alicenine. At the 15th anniversary live that A9 held at Hibiya Open Air Hall, <A9 LAST ONEMAN TOUR BEST OF A9 TOUR ALIVERSARY FINAL & 15TH ANNIVERSARY>, the moment that they announced that they would change their name back to the original "alicenine." and resume activities, they garnered a lot of attention, to the point that it was in the global trend ranking on Twitter. alicenine., who came back at their festival, <Beautiful Beast Festival> on August 24, will finally begin full scale activities. From October, they will hold their first solo tour since changing their name, <alicenine. ONEMAN TOUR 2019 "Kakumei Kaika ep1. -Zettai "Kuro" Ryoiki">. After that, they will hold <alicenine Christmas Concert "Kakumei Kaika ep2. - SYMPHONIC ALICEMAS 2019"> on December 25 at LINE CUBE SHIBUYA, Tokyo, and then <alicenine. New Year Concert 2020 "Kakumei Kaika ep.3 -SYMPHONIC GALAXY-"> at Osaka Conference Center on January 5, 2020. We decided to do an interview with them, who are doing three different live series centered around their restart single, "Kakumei Kaika -Revolutionary Blooming-", which goes on sale October 23. In the first part, we heard their thoughts about the live shows, and in the second part, we ask about the new single.

First of all, can you please tell us the reason why you changed your band name back from A9 to alicenine. at your 15 year anniversary?

Show: The fans didn't know the circumstances as to why, but they were frustrated, like "Can we not say 'alice nine'?". I think that they were supporting us while always feeling as if something was stuck in their throat. So in response to that, I thought that we needed to send an official message that "It's okay to say 'alice nine'". So with the cooperation of many people, by us being able to do activities with the name "alicenine.", we changed our band name. We all discussed and decided to change the stylisation to "alicenine.". Since we thought as we are going to the lengths of changing our band name back, that it would be a good idea to return to our roots, and this is how we chose to do that.

Saga: First of all, in any case, we wanted to change the stylisation from A9 to 'alice nine'. So if we were to change the stylisation, we realised that we had 2 ways to stylise our name. So at that time, we didn't want to change our band name any more, and since we were changing it, it would seem half-hearted if it didn't give people the impression "They've finally come back" when looking at the name, so we decided to change it back to "alicenine.". With the name we had when we first formed that was a mix of katakana and kanji, there are still people around us who will say that ""alicenine." had more of an impact", if you ask them. But in fact, the English stylisation of "ALICE NINE" casually underneath the katakana and kanji band name was there since the beginning.

Hiroto: But back then, it was in the lower case "alice nine". This time it's in upper case.

Saga: We were like "If it's like this, we can use both "alicenine." and "ALICE NINE"".

So you all had the feeling of wanting to change the band name back.

Saga: Of course, we had the resolve of doing activities with the name "A9". But as we were doing our activities, as expected, there were glimmers of it. There were many kinds of those moments. We would even sometimes make mistakes on the radio, saying "I'm alicenine.'s-- uhh, A9". That happened to us. Even after five years, there was still a part of us that wasn't used to it (the name "A9").

Nao: I, on the other hand, was used to the name, so I'm like "Oh right, we were alicenine.", and it feels like I'm not yet used to this name (laughs).

Hiroto: Isn't that because after becoming A9, you've been coming to the front of the stage and firing up the audience, and starting to do stuff that you never did before?

Nao: That might be it! I think that because of those five years as A9, we will be able to show the reborn alicenine. from here on.

Hiroto: For me, it just really felt right, changing the name back to "alicenine.". The same goes for me too, but by becoming A9, we created a situation where the fans could not say the name of the thing that they liked. I hated that we had created a situation where the fans couldn't even say the name "alice nine" when asked which artists they like. I design the goods, so I always thought that names are important. Originally, A9 was a name that we had given ourselves during a period of preparation. So that is the meaning behind a part of the A9 logo being fragmented.

Is that so?

Hiroto: Since it was a name we had planned to use only during our period as a chrysalis until preparations were complete, the logo was made that way. However, unexpectedly, the preparation period until we could become an adult insect and flap our wings ended up being long (laughs). But thinking about it now, I think that at that time, it wasn't probably the time for us to be flying. I think that we are the way we are now because of the various experiences we had during those five years. So at the Hibiya Open Air Hall encore. When the backdrop changed to alicenine., the moment we played our live show with that behind us, it just felt really right. I fully realised that after all, we are alicenine. Saying "I'm alicenine.'s Hiroto" is like a family name. I understand that during these last five years, the fans were desperately trying to like "A9's Hiroto", and I even kept telling myself that, but as expected, "I'm alicenine's Hiroto" just feels right. So that is why from here on, I would like to engrave the current alicenine. into everyone.

Tora: In our fifteen years of doing activities, that we spent five of those years as A9 means that one third of our activity history is A9, right?

That's what it means.

Tora: That we did it for that long was shock to me. But I think it was a good thing. Because if we were able to continue on as a band with that name, I think the band would probably have gotten stuck in a rut. Isn't there no impact when you do this for fifteen years with the same members? To just keep on going like that? The fans will also get bored. If nothing happens, then there is no point in liking something for a long time. Isn't it more fun when there is some kind of event? For me, even with games, when the game is not updated frequently, I stop playing right away. So in that respect, I think it was a good thing, that we became A9.

Hiroto: Since we had been doing this as alicenine. and ALICE NINE for ten years, if we can kept on going at that rate, we might have played it safe.

Tora: Right.

It might have been precisely because you had a somewhat eccentric band name, A9, that you were able to take on wild challenges, such as setting down your instruments on stage and dancing with choreography, or doing a live show while saying lines, like a stage play.

Tora: That's right. Had we not changed our name, we might have been an average band, and you might have suddenly gotten a notice that the service was ending (laughs).

And Tora, you also actually had an accident, where you were suddenly struck with a huge illness.

Tora: Yeah, that's true. This is something that I can only say because I am able to live without any issues, but in terms of the results, it was a good thing.

So please tell us about your live shows. Should we think of the nationwide solo tour "Kakukei Kaikai ep1. -Zettai "Kuro" Ryoiki", the Christmas Concert "Kakukei Kaika ep2. -SYMPHONIC ALICEMAS 2019", and the New Year Concert 2020 "Kakumei Kaika ep3. -SYMPHONIC GALAXY-" as lives that will be done with different themes?

Show: Yes. By changing the band name back to alicenine., in the series of things to come, Saga had told me that it meant that there were a variety of ways to express ourselves. Because the direction and production of the lives are centered around Saga. The same goes for the theme this time, "Kakumei Kaika". The first series of lives, "Zettai 'Kuro' Ryoiki", will be live shows with an intense, mysterious, and sexy feeling, just like last year. The live shows in December and January will be a collaboration with an orchestra, and have the word "symphonic" in the title. Regarding the live on January 5 in Osaka, the first time we played a solo show in Nippon Budokan was January 6. The title of that show was <Alice Nine Live Tour 10 "FLASH LIGHT from the past" FINAL TOKYO GALAXY>, so the live show in Osaka is going to include an homage to that Budokan live. Until now, there were many times we had gone on a hardcore tour for half of the year and then rested. However, this year, we played live shows right until August, and normally, we would rest, but we will tour again in October, and we also have a release. Since we are intermittently continuing activities, it might be a bit tough. But we have done this for 15 years. When we did our event the other day at Shinkiba Coast, <Beautiful Beast Fest.>, Aiji (LM.C) had said to us, "The reason why everyone is supporting you so much is because they all know just how difficult it is to keep a band going for 15 years. Because they have that respect for you, they are all supporting you". While valuing the fact that we are able to keep going, and while showing gratitude for that, I'd like to perceive what is happening now as something as important, and do live shows with the aspirations of wanting to grow even bigger.

<SYMPHONIC ALICEMAS>, which features an orchestra, was held in Tokyo last year and was a huge success. It seems like the show in Osaka will be different from that, though.

Saga: It will be. When we decided to do a live show in collaboration with an orchestra, which was well received last year in Tokyo, a part of us also wanted to show the same thing in Osaka too. The show in Tokyo will be during the Christmas period, but the show in Osaka will be our first live show at the start of the new year, so it will be different from the show in Tokyo. Even though for both days, we will bring in an orchestra. So the contents of the shows will be different. It's going to be contents that people who come to both shows can be satisfied with.

At ALICEMAS last year, that you were all on stage in formal attire left an impression.

Saga: Not just us, but the people who came also came dressed nicely. But personally, I don't want it to be that formal. Because it's a live show. I do think that there is the image that a collaboration with an orchestra means the show is grandiose and that it's more like a concert you listen to in silence. But actually playing the show last year, it was completely different. So it's not something so formal like a concert, but more like a live show, so although it's perfectly fine to come dressed nicely, I hope that they don't overdo it. Of course, there is absolutely no problem with coming in a rough style, like wearing a shirt. The same goes for Osaka. For Osaka, I think that it might interesting to do the kind of thing we once did at Budokan, but with an orchestral arrangement. We are still at the stage where we will decide what to do.

But before the end of the year shows, first, you have the nationwide tour which starts in October.

Nao: Yes. On this tour, we will play at the same venues we played at on our first solo tour during our initial alicenine. days.

So that is how you chose the venues.

Show: Yes. Tokyo is a different venue because back then, we played at SHIBUYA-AX(1), but every other venue is where we played at on our first solo tour.

Nao: So for us too, it's deeply emotional. Because we still have memories from our first solo tour. It's also our first solo tour after changing our name back, so there are many things to consider. Personally, I think that this year, I'd better start working harder on the drums. On our first tour after changing our name back, I'd like to play the drums crisply to bring the songs to life.

Hiroto: Hearing what Nao just said, I remember that I still have a scar from when I bumped into and cut myself on the fence when packing up equipment at Fukuoka DRUM SON on our first solo tour (smile). I'm really looking forward to the tour. I mentioned it earlier, but the moment I was on stage at Hibiya Open Air with "alicenine." in the background, something overcame me. I am looking forward to being able to go on a nationwide tour again with that name. Together with the concept, I think that the tour will be something quite powerful. The outfits this time too are quite risque. Since the venues this time are quite small, feel free to touch.

All: (laughs).

Tora: You should come and see us, since all of our outfits are so cool to the point that you want to touch us!

What kind of clothes should the audience wear?

Tora: I'm not looking at what the audience is wearing!

Umm...

Tora: Oh, right. If they buy and wear the shirt we are selling as goods, I'll look at them (laughs).

The second part of the interview is scheduled to go up on October 23rd!

(1) SHIBUYA-AX was a livehouse in Shibuya, Tokyo, which closed in May, 2014. It is where they shot the “ ALICE IN WONDEЯ FILM” DVD.

[cocolinears]

Good morning pals

I am still alive!

I JUST scrubbed my snake tattoo off this morning since I'm doing a different cosplay today. I'd left it on til now bc I liked the aesthetic lmfao. I had to really work to get it off too. That mf has a potent hold to it for sure 😂

Honestly this year I'm mostly here for the band LM.C (my favorite band) and I won't go into it too much here to spare y'all since it's so unrelated to my usual posts but I was very busy with helping with fan projects for them last night. I will say everything went off exactly the way it was supposed to though and I'm so happy 🙏

[smbeech]

LM.C is opening a special vote for their 15th anniversary project. It is open to all fans including overseas fans. Please see the Twitter post for further details.

[sagudesu]

[News] CHIYU will be featured in the fall Jrock Vault box!

Jrock Vault

We're excited to announce that CHIYU will be featured in the fall Jrock Vault! Subscribe by August 24th to receive CHIYU for your first box.

You may know him from SuG, or his support work for GREMLINS, but did you know that he's an amazing solo artist? His mini album, "Seven Deadly Sins" featured Aiji from LM.C, Tom-H@ck, Mizuki (from Sadie and The THIRTEEN), and JUN from GOTCHAROCKA.

The fall Jrock Vault will include: 🎵 T-shirt in American sizes XS-3X, featuring an exclusive design. 🎵 Double-sided poster. 🎵 A live limited single. 🎵 Photo card. 🎵 Bonus items like merch, or autographed goods where possible. (Subject to availability.)

CHIYU is really excited to get to know his overseas fans. We're still ironing out the details - but look forward to a possible live streaming experience, with exclusive features for Jrock Vault subscribers.

Subscribe here: https://jrockvault.com/

[vkh-official]

Friday at 8:30 PM EST/5:30 PM PST: Only one thing left to do with LM.C’s new album “Future Sensation”: rank it with the others! Round 2 for #LMC fans, let’s go! 👍 #vkh #vkh #visualkei “VKH Live - LM.C Ranking Releases: September 2018 Edition (Vote Now!)” https://ift.tt/2Mtgi0w

[devil-counting-tear-drops]

LM.C HAS UNLOCKED THEIR YOUTUBE VIDEOS FOR OVERSEAS FANS!!

Get out there and give them your views people! 

[aquasandyled]

Oh my god ????? I just remembered i used to be such a big fucking fan of LM.C, but that was so long ago!!!! Whaaaat

I used to have a picture of maya as my pp on msn/windows live msn, we still used that shit wtfffff THATS SO WILD thats a very long time holy shit