Last weekend I drove over 13 hours to go to Seattle, to accomplish one of my life goals: see Mana in real life. Last week I saw the man that I have looked up to for 10 years and always dreamt of meeting but never thought I would be able to. It was a miracle how everything just worked out, and was even better than I had anticipated. Before I left, I thought, what will be my life goal now, now that I'm going to see Mana-sama with Moi Dix Mois? And now my answer is: see them again! XD
So since the concert was at an anime convention, there were other events involving the band as well. First off there was a Question and Answer panel. I could recognize the line for this event by how many gothic lolitas there were wearing Moi Meme Moitie (Mana's brand clothing). There was a girl there cosplaying as Merveilles Mana, and I was cosplaying as Shiroi Mana, but other than that we were the only ones for this event. I had decided before coming up here that I was going to try and make new friends who liked Mana as well. The lady behind me in line was a mom saving a spot in line for her daughter, so I thought I'd talk to the girls in front of me. They were talking about Tetsu from Malice Mizer (old school!) so I thought I'd join in. They were really cool, none of them were dressed up but they all knew a lot about visual kei, liked a lot of the old school scene, and they all travel across the country seeing these band like Moi Dix Mois, D and Versailles. One girl had even come up from San Jose! As we sat down in the panel room, Matt kept teasing me the whole time as to what question I was gonna ask and embarrassing me.
The band entered the room to "The Seventh Veil," first it was Hayato and I didn't recognize him in the hat, I was like, who is that? and then the rest of the members - they are so tall!!! The other Japanese bands I've seen live have all been way shorter than I had expected, and it was a little awkward. But K and Mana are like the tallest Japanese people I have ever seen in my life. They all wore their Dixieme Anniversaire outfits just like on their website, except Mana-sama had blue hair. I was sitting behind a tall dude (who was conveniently blocking my view of Mana-sama -_-*) so it was hard to see at times, but basically Mana did the whisper thing (whispering to K and having K speak for him) and K translated into English for the band and spoke when he could, but sometimes used an interpreter. For the most part, the band's English isn't very good... A lot of the questions asked were pretty typical, do you dress like this everyday (No), is Malice Mizer ever going to get together again (at the reunion show this year), etc, but some were funny, they asked K if he were to cosplay who he would be and he said "Ryuk," from Deathnote - he would make such a good Ryuk! Lol.
Matt asked what their favorite metal bands were:
Sugiya: Queensryche
K: Slipknot
Mana: Slayer
Seth: the Beatles (?)
Hayato: Galneyrus
And Mana made some kind of comment earlier about being influenced by Yngwie Malmsteen recently, yeah! Someone asked Seth about Art Cube and what it's like playing in 2 bands and he denies it! Said, "I only sing for Moi Dix Mois." I guess since he uses a different name in Art Cube he wants to keep the two identities separate. And Mana said his favorite thing about Seattle was being able to eat seafood and seaweed in America. XD
Someone asked, "Describe the person next to you in one word":
Sugiya about K: Ryuk
K about Mana: my boss
Mana about Seth: eyepatch
Seth about Hayato: tomboy
Hayato about Sugiya: drunk
Then someone asked about their beauty tips:
Sugiya and Hayato: beer
Mana: think love
Seth: eyepatch
Also at one point Mana was covering his face, and the girls next to me were saying, "He must have cracked a smile!" Hehe. Mana said the favorite song he's written thus far was "The Seventh Veil." He dodged a question on what color his hair would be next. And that's about it as far as questions I remembered.
After that... autographs! I forgot to bring any of my albums so I had to make do with their guest page in the sakuracon booklet. I was so nervous. Seriously. But it was so great. First was Sugiya. When he saw me, he leaned back in his chair with an amused smile on his face and said, "Mana-sama!" (due to my cosplay) That made me really happy. I know these guys like, barely speak English, but he said that in such a way that it felt like there wasn't even a language barrier. Sugiya always seemed like the shy awkward one in the pictures and videos, but not so! He seemed super friendly and confident there. I don't remember anything about Hayato except that he was wearing a hat, and the emblem on it was so intricate and cool looking I kept staring at it the whole time. Seth was really awesome looking, the feathers on his shirt and the tattoo under his lace sleeve looked really cool together. I told him that I was a fan of Art Cube too and he just kinda laughed it off, and avoide eye contact the whole time, so I wonder if he even understood me, poor guy. I basically told everyone thank you for coming to America, and shook their hands, and I told K that we drove up from California to see them, because I figured he knew he most English, but he didn't seem to know the right words to respond to that, and it was slightly awkward, derp. He has fangs! And they look so real, too! His one light contact really stands out compared to his other eye, too. Then... dun dun dun... Mana-sama himself. I was petrified. I slid my paper over, my brain not really comprehending everything at first, and I just said, "Hi Mana, thanks for coming to America," and just stood there, but then afraid that I would let this moment get away, I got my act together and told him, "I've always wanted to meet you". I have no idea if he understood me, I felt like I was talking in a vacuum, but I just wanted to tell him anyways. And of course Mana doesn't talk, which I was actually grateful for at this point, I just looked him in the eyes, and he looked back, and he shook my hand with both hands! Actually, more like held my hand, his movements are so delicate and careful. We were both wearing lace gloves and he was wearing hecka rings, probably 3 or 4 on each hand. He just stared at me intently and then nodded, (probably cause he's not allowed to smile, haha). And his makeup is amazing, I gave up right there on the spot of ever hoping that I'd be able to do my makeup like him. He was wearing lots of blue and white eyeshadow. It just... Yeah. I can't even. I felt like a kindergartener with crayon on my eyes compared to him. I waited for Matt to finish getting autographs, then I told him all excited as we were walking out, "Mana shook my hand with both hands!" which he ended up making fun of me for the rest of the trip. XD
So that was autographs. Somehow I was a little surprised that Mana was actually out there signing, because other bands I've seen NEVER have the entire band doing autographs, but I was really glad the whole band was there.
THEN we go to the vendor room and I'm just checking out their merch booth looking at a t shirt when, oh, there's people coming over, I look up to see who it is and jump back and almost have a heart attack, because it's Mana! And like, hecka security! The band was there walking around the vendor hall. I slowly scoot backwards out of the general area as Mana starts getting his picture taken in front of the booth, and I see him posing making the peace signs. XD And there were these loli girls following them around and watching them, and I stood there too for a while but then I felt awkward just standing there and walked around with Matt for a while. Then, we were at another booth, and security is telling us to clear out, and the band goes through and exits out of the hall, and I smile at them, and made eye contact with Mana! ...and of course he didn't smile back. >_< If there's one thing I was disappointed in about meeting him, it's that he never smiles! Like, seriously, never. But really, it was great, I am so happy.
Concert. The concert was amazing! What a beautiful band. What great presentation and performance. Before they came on, they even played Goblin! I was really excited because it felt like we were being given the same sort of experience as fans in Japan, even though this was just at a convention in America. And then they came on stage to an instrumental track off D + Sect and there was fog and lights, and K's guitar against the fog looked like a scorpion, and Seth had feathers on his shoulder that were blowing in the fan and reminded me of Lord Darcia from Wolf's Rain, and Mana's tulle skirts looked really cool against the light. He is so tall! I kept staring at his shoes and marvelling at how he could strike those power stances with those platforms on. Hayato looks angry when he drums, but in a cool way. He wasn't wearing his hat during the live. His drum kit is a lot smaller than bands I'm used to seeing, but I couldn't take my eyes off him when he was playing the blast beats (I'm a sucker for extreme metal drumming!) Sugiya still moved the least out of anyone in the band, but he also looked cool in his costume - I remember looking at everyone on stage in their costumes and thinking, so this is what a visual kei concert it like. The band, the way they moved, everything was so graceful and dramatic and beautiful. They were SO professional, very polished. Their setlist went something like this: Seventh Veil first, then Metaphysical, Witchcraft, Divine Place, Sanctum Regnum, new song "Duree?", The Sect, Pendulum, Immortal Madness, Dead Scape, and Ange, and for the encore, Deus Ex Machina. They played everything I wanted to hear! I had really wanted them to play Metaphysical, so I screamed like crazy when that song came on. I had also wanted to hear Divine Place, and I had expected to start crying during that song but I didn't, I just stood there clutching my skirts and staring in awe. It was amazing. And Mana-sama's guitar solos- I normally don't like to scream during guitar solos, but I started screaming involuntarily. And everyone was screaming during Sugiya's bass solo, too. K was hilarious while explaining the Dix signs, maybe he wasn't trying to be, poor guy, but we were all giggling as we were doing them, and having lots of fun. This band was way better live than I had expected, their DVD's and live videos don't even compare! Seth blew me away. His hair, his presence, everything was amazing. His singing was amazing, I don't think he was off pitch at all. Him and Mana during Pendulum were doing these poses/interpretive dance thing (fanservice?) where Seth knelt down on one knee beside Mana and waved his hand in front of Mana's body, and Mana was doing some hand gestures as well - they looked like a sorcerer and sorceress out of a storybook, it was so magical! I think that's when I "got it," I finally got the vision of Moi Dix Mois, and their image in D+Sect as dark ages/medieval sorcerers, philosophers, and alchemists and stuff. And, I was so excited that they played a new song! I was really touched that they would play the new song for us in America. It's amazing! It's happier sounding, has a good mellow vocal line beginning than goes into this heavy power metally sounding riff and zomg I can't believe they played the new song for us! It sounded like the name was "Duree" (they pronounced it "doo-ray") or something, either way, something in French that I can't make out. And Mana's "surprise" that he was talking about on his blog earlier was that he came out with a video camera! Of course, I was jumping up and down like an idiot at that point. For the encore they played Deus Ex Machina, which isn't a song that I'm crazy about, but I know it's the song that Mana spins around to at the lives, so I was glad to see that, because spinning was only Mana's trademark for like, ALL of Malice Mizer. And this girl shouted "I love you Mana-sama!" during the show and a guy shouted right after her, "I love your legs!" XD (He WAS showing a lot of leg...) Also, he kisses his guitar picks before he throws them out. Mana was the last one to leave the stage both times, he would close his eyes, taking in all of our cheers, and went to the center of the stage and bowed. Before we even got to chanting for a second encore, Sakura Con started ushering us out because they were going to have a dance in that room. After the show, I only heard people saying good things about the show. It was amazing! Best show of my life. Now I keep waiting for Mana to come out with the next Digital Madousho (his fan magazine) so I can see pictures from this event. Amazing!
So yes, my next life goal: see them again! \m/
