My main reason for using YouTube

The video I chose is a “fan video” made up of clips of one of my favorite bands. These clips are all about five to ten years old, so the quality isn’t the best on some of them. As in most fan videos, this one has a lot of clips from live performances. Despite what the song says, as well as the people in the video itself, I have to assure you that all of the people in this video are men.



Personally, I love watching Malice Mizer’s old lives. They’re generally hilarious, and involve either Mana or Gackt doing something ridiculous every time. This video in particular focuses on the two, and most of it shows stupid stunts that they are doing. Mana is the prime focus, the song that was chosen was chosen because of him. Mana’s elegance is what makes him appealing, and it’s quite entertaining to see him running around in three to four inch plat form shoes. Making Mana a focal point was smart of the video maker, because Mana is so… different. He’s always very extreme, his clothes are always elegant, and the way he runs around would make one think that he would tear them. Yet he does not. His hair is also very large, and when you watch the videos, you think “What the hell is this? Why are they dressed that way?” It’s all part of their image, their songs (mostly) dark, about vampires, or anything of the like. (They even had a song called “Beast of Blood” which was what kept the band popular after Gackt (the vocalist) left.) If you watch this video, you’ll note that Mana’s hair changed colors a couple of times, as well as the style. When he made those changes, it was when the whole bands style was changing. Mana’s hair isn’t his real hair, generally he wore wigs.

Everything was slightly altered by the poster “Mistoline” because she is the one that ‘made’ the video. To understand what’s going on, some things have to be explained though. Malice Mizer is a visual kei band, which were really popular in the 90’s in Japan. Visual kei bands made the music, but they also dressed extremely. In particular, Malice Mizer was a gothic styled band, who had a lot of French as well as Japanese influence. Visual kei is a style that is still about in Japan today, though they’re not as extreme. If that doesn’t help too much, then just think about how the band “Kiss” is in the United States. The music style of Japanese artists was different, but visually, it was similar. These videos are available from shopping sites, but it’s hard to tell what’s real and what’s not. There have been a lot of bootlegged things out and about, and the reason why I watch performances on YouTube instead of purchasing them is because of how much they cost. Anything by Malice Mizer, as far as concerts go, if I can find them, cost up to $200, and that’s a little too much for my budget.