Popular singer Gackt, who celebrated the 10th year of his solo career on June 4, kicked off his arena tour at Chiba's Makuhari Messe this week. At the concert, he announced the "enlargement" of his name, from "Gackt" to an all-capital "GACKT," explaining, "To commemorate 10 years as an artist, I've gone all big letters."
The singer belted out a total of 19 tunes to over 5,000 fans, including his newest single, "Ko-akuma Heaven," the attention-grabbing cover of which features the star decked out as an "Age-jo" (cabaret hostess). The tour will take Gackt to four cities and eight concerts, playing to a total of 100,000 fans.
© Japan Today
42 Comments
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northlondon
So instead of just being a talentless twat, he is now a TALENTLESS TWAT.
cadmium
What's that outfit he's wearing in the photo? On first sight I thought he was an SS officer.
stirfry
as in "the first time i heard him sing i GACKT in my food" ?
escape_artist
I'd say enlargement of his ego is all that's going on here. Not any different from nearly all the other talentless all-cappers in Japan. Does he expect to become more "famous" now because of this stunt? Reminds me too of how Japanese companies love writing their names all in caps in all their documents, online & off. Same syndrome, evidently. I wonder what the attraction is here to treating everything like it's a brand name, including themselves.
urufuls
stirfry, you stole my thunder! :)
Wakarimasen
Does anyone know what the kanji is for gackt? Has it changed now that he has grown up and become GACKT?
jonnyboy
you have to hand it to him, he held on strong to those capitalisation rules for 10 years
JeffLee
PEOPLE INSIST ON ALL-CAPS ARE INSUFFERABLE EGO MANIACS WHO ARE COMPENSATING FOR...UM....something smaller.
terebiko
Hope he doesn't have any trouble with the spelling.
diegameL
cadmium: That is exactly what he is wearing. In the concerts, they even have authentic swastika flags hanging from their belts and so on. Fictional addition to WWII is the theme of the tour, but its overdone, and big controversies should arise soon in Europe due to the grossness of it.
Anomaly_Jr
Surely this is a new low for a "news" article... surely. I mean, name an individual who will be affected positively or negatively by this... "news".
flatearther
Charming taste in accessories, proper use of English. He's certainly a cut above your average musician (heavy sarcasm). Wasn't it a few weeks ago that JT asked the question of why J-pop isn't more popular in the U.S?
Perhaps if they left tasteless and offensive displays like this on the drawing board we'd be able to focus on the music. Are his lyrics about mass murder? What's with the glorification of genocide?
shayouzoku
MEGUMI begs to differ
ersby
What happens after another ten years? Exclamation marks? Bold font?
terebiko
Regarding his outfit, he is probably heavily influenced by Marilyn Manson. Just a thought.
ritalynn
I'll admit, i'm a fan, but he seriously had problems. And is EXTREMLY vain!
abromofo
Everything about this guy makes my skin crawl. The sad and confusing thing is, he actually has a fan base in this country.
diegameL
abromofo: Buahah, I guess you'll be delighted to learn then, that he is actually one of Japan's most successful artists, and has thousands of fans abroad as well -- the fan base doesn't even closely limit itself to Japan.
nath
I'll never forget seeing Gackt singles in the discount bin at ARION once. They were there for months, at 10yen! And nobody touched them!
GAYMAN
pretty much sums him up. superficial loser surrounded by 'producers' with poor taste. not unlike most of the 'entertainment' industry in japan.
Pukey2
I hear that YOSHIKI is not to be outdone. He's changing his name to Y.O.S.H.I.K.I.
And KONISHIKI now refuses to have his name written horizontally. You must now refer to him as
K
O
N
I
S
H
I
K
I
toguro
I never heard of the guy until I saw him in Fuurin Kazan, and even then I thought he was a woman until I heard him talk.
cersei
As someone who went to one of these concerts, this is NOT true. It's the stylised red, black and white cross, minus the swastika.
I'd also like to point out that the Nazi theme is used along with the unsurprising concept that WAR IS BAD, and is neither glorified nor encouraged.
Yes, Gackt is crazy (sorry, GACKT) - but anyone who's familiar with him already knows that. He's still an extremely talented guy, and anyone who says otherwise is, frankly, deluding themselves.
Valmain
I just have to add my 2 yen here.
I've been a big Gackt fan since I came to Japan and I've seen him live numerous times. I agree that he can be a bit creepy and self-absorbed at times, but I like him because he's an actual artist in a sea of "performers" and "tarento." Whether it's good or not is completely a personal preference, but at least he writes all his own music and lyrics as well as produces it. This is a lot more than can be said for the Ayu Hamasakis and Koda Kumis (not bashing them, just stating that they are not artists by definition, but rather performers).
Anywho, I agree that this naming thing is silly, especially because it's not even reflected on his official web page.
dogfood911
Wow, I'm impressed. Can't wait til the 20th anniversary when he unleashes "GACKT"...in cursive!
yokomoc
Looks like an open invite to acronymists. Sadly I've haven't the faintest who this guy is so someone else can do the honours.
TokyoHustla
diegame: No, I've sen the sales figures. There are barely any fans outside of Japan. It's actually pretty close to zero.
nath
There are fans, just barely any who willingly pay for his music. Different discussion altogether, though.
(Also, the Kamen Rider track was written by someone else, but aside from that song the rest I believe were written by Gackt.)
Valmain
Bleedin' C of E, I was hoping that nobody would have enough Gackt background to pick up on this so that I wouldn't have to mention that one exception. Yes, he didn't write the Kamen Rider and it shows IMO. I applaud another Dear!
cersei
He also did covers of two gundam songs (Meguri Ai and Ai Senshi) but that's just because he's a big fanboy :) And of course sang for some of Chacha's solo stuff.
And Gackt has thousands of fans outside of Japan. Just, as someone else said, they're either not able to (or not willing) to pay to import CDs.
He has a genuinely amazing voice as anyone who's seen him live can tell you, writes his own lyrics, writes and arranges all the music, plays countless instruments, and puts so much money and effort into his concerts that often he doesn't make any profit off them.
Yes, he's really weird and has a big ego, but he loves his fans and is genuinely talented.
diegameL
cersei:
I also went to one of his 2009 concerts, and its already been confirmed from far many others than myself that its a swastika flag on his belt.
I was the one who mentioned the amount of fans outside Japan though (and yes, I guess it should be repeated that I wasn't talking about sales figures, but the amount of fans. These two don't always go hand to hand, especially with import CDs) -- and at the same time I'm balancing the compliments with some facts about the concert content I find disturbing still.
Images: http://tinyurl.com/m6bd4q
In this, in the upmost picture you can clearly see the color scheme of the flag below his guitar. I believe that it's his guitar that is the one that has the pattern you described, cersei. And I wonder what they are doing in the lowest one :) (I know its a part of the dance, yes, its just a funny coincidence).
Also, the costume at its full glory: http://i40.tinypic.com/2rfzclc.jpg
They're marketing them for fans. It would be really interesting to see him try a breakthrough in Europe now -- Germany or France perhaps, maybe with a similar concert tour.
cersei
All right, but that leaves me a little confused because the concert I went to where I was able to see it clearly - there was no swastika. It was the same pattern as his guitar, and as the hand towel that's available at the arena merchandise stalls.
I agree that selling the whole uniform is in bad taste, and is pretty unjustifiable.
nath
Some kinda capitalist or something.
LissaGackt1
Gackt is the great musician and actor in Japan. About his celebrate 10th anniversary it's great because he want share his love for the music and all fans.
smithinjapan
He sucked 10 years ago when he stared, he sucks as much now. I like the suggestion above that for the next anniversary he demands his name be written in cursive.
Typical of Japanese entertainment. Why doesn't the guy, famous NOWHERE except in Japan, demand his name start being written in kanji? or change it to a name that doesn't sound like you are vomiting, which is what anyone with a brain feels like doing when they hear him.
ritalynn
Quick question, if the guy is famous nowhere except in Japan, then why is he staring in a Hollywood film coming out later this year?
The guy has fan all over, get your facts straight.
cersei
His name can, and sometime is, written in kanji. (神威 楽斗) Hence technically in romaji it would be Gakuto.
Also, much as I love him, Bunraku is more of an indie film and likely won't see wide release.
emimi
Has anyone here considered the fact that the swastika is a Buddhist symbol?
Congrats, GACKT! I hope he doesn't retire in 2010...I'd love to see him in concert~
PepinGalarga
Swastika from Nazis is clearly different. Actually the buddhist symbol and one used by Native Americans in the US is very similar. The Nazi swastika is the only one that is rotated 45 degrees. In all other applications for the last 5,000 years, it has been used in level alignment.
I havent seen any swastikas (nazi or otherwise) in the pictures linked here.
flatearther
He's wearing an SS uniform................WTF?
norinrad21
funny stuff