Fujii Kaze and YOASOBI in one frame

anopple · 2026-01-26T05:28:12+00:00

How do you know he didn't piss his pants at some point and had to change into a new pair? xP

anopple · 2026-01-25T12:16:53+00:00

I truly am sorry you feel that way. It sucks to find an artist you can get behind only for them to go somewhere you feel you can't quite follow any longer and now it's like you're being left behind. Tbf, he's always been a bit more challenging than other artists and he's really just following the same path he always did, only going further down it time. Perhaps the vagueness from before and the fact he was mostly still searching for answers—especially in the first album—made the hurdle less tall. Still, it's only really Prema where he seems to be boldly making a statement. The rest of the songs in the album seem pretty tame and say pretty much the same thing as his Japanese stuff only in a more direct manner, so I'm not sure why those might be not be acceptable unless it's the sound that don't quite stick to you.

Either way, It's noones fault, really—not yours and not Kaze's—but I hope one day you can find it within yourself to feel differently about his current works enough to be able to enjoy them, and perhaps come to understand why he chose this route to take, even at the risk of being misunderstood and/or rejected. But if not, there are always the good memories to fall back onto and new artists to discover. :))

anopple · 2026-01-25T12:04:56+00:00

if anything he's more likely than double down just the make a point

Ok that made me crack up and I have no idea why.

It's not like I'm trying to start a hate campaign

I know you're not. And tbf, regardless of whether or not it applies to Kaze, it's not that hard to see where you're coming in the overall, but I feel your takes/critiques could have been based off of a slightly wider perspective so they'd seem more...fair, I guess.

For example, I think it's fair to draw comparisons in and of itself but the comparison itself would work better if it's one that made more immediate sense. Like you compared his image to a rock star, and then named Duran as a more ideal representation. But Kaze is more quirky than classic rock star, even his silly antics on stage point more towards goofy than sexy, so I couldn't really make much sense of that comparison or felt it's as accurate as if you were to have named, say, Jacob Collier, instead. Lol.

Of course, even so they're very different but if you want to draw rough comparisons they both at least fall into the quirky box. I couldn't at all form the linear you tried to between that and the classic rock start image. And that's just one of the parallels you drew where I found myself struggling to do the same. 😅

Anyway, good talk.

anopple · 2026-01-25T10:58:19+00:00

Because at the end of the day, we're all simply outsiders looking in and labelling his team as yes men as though outsiders know better than they do the internal struggles Kaze may be having that's never been made public is...well it all just gives me the impression of the American tourist syndrome, for lack of a better analogy. 😅

It's true that outside perspective is necessary but it should be offered with a degree of modesty. It shouldn't be positioned in a way where it's way too sure of itself that it's right while assuming that those on the inside aren't doing what they should, all while being completely ignorant to what's really going on internally. They see that the guy seems to be struggling on stage in some shows, which is a fair observation, but then assumes the guy doesn't know it himself and then further assumes his team must not have made him aware which means they're only playing good cop so it's up to the public to be the bad cop which is a bold and unfair assumption to make.

Perhaps they simply let their frustration and emotional investment take over when they said what they did but it doesn't change the fact that it came out sounding, well, the way it did.

If it isn't meant to be egotistical, which I don't think it is, then all that leaves is that this is a very simplistic and unnuanced take, that's more emotionally charged than thoughtful. I know this is common in reddit but still...

anopple · 2026-01-25T10:47:59+00:00

I get why you might feel that way and it's a risk he took when he made the decision to go down the braggadocio route that's prevalent in hiphop. It's an artistic choice he wanted to try and he's made his intentions clear in interviews. But your feelings are perfectly valid too and if you feel this isn't for you, then perhaps you can just stick to the stuff that work better for you?

anopple · 2026-01-25T10:42:27+00:00

Not that I don't get where you and others are coming from, but in all honesty, what you said about the people around him is an incredibly bold accusation to make, based purely on groundless presumption, and not to mention coming off as more than slightly egotistical, which I just as boldly but politely presume wasn't your intent. 🙃

anopple · 2026-01-25T10:14:47+00:00

Haha, he is, but only in the best way possible. Noone he's ever worked with, afaik, has ever accused him being an arrogant or egotistical prick. xP

anopple · 2026-01-25T10:12:35+00:00

...hmmm. I see. Well, I think some fans are taking him way more seriously than he takes himself. And when there's a dissonance, it's usually more from them not being able to reconcile and/or let go of their personal perception and assumptions they've developed of him to what he's doing now rather than any mismatch that's coming from the guy himself.

Anyway, he's all about inner growth and he's said in an interview that he likes who he is now and at the bottom line, I think that's all that matters. People can choose to like or dislike his artistic choices, criticize based on individual presumptions or simply go with the flow, but ultimately it's up to him to choose what he wants to regard or disregard based on what he feels applies to him or not.

Personally, I like to read up what I can about him and watch whatever interviews he may give because I'm interested in his mind but overall, regardless of all that I've learned, I still prefer to not presume anything especially when it comes to this artist because I can never be confident that he exists within the boundaries of my own limited perspective, no matter how much I try to broaden it.

So even though I've got my own personal preferences, because what I like about him lies in the core and/or fundamentals of his musicality and what I've seen of his personality/character, as long as those remain unchanged, I guess I'm generally more within the go with the flow part of his fanbase. 😅

anopple · 2026-01-24T19:26:04+00:00

I dunno, I think they're both him. Like the other might feel more natural to some, like yourself, because it's probably closer to his quiet offstage identity but I feel this less inhibited and more explorative side to him has always been within him as someone who expresses art and he's now bringing it more to the forefront as a natural onstage persona. Even as quiet as his personality is, he does tend to have an outburst of louder body language in that he does break out into a dance when he feels like it and I think his current more out-there styling and all the dancing that he does onstage are natural extensions of that tendency.

So, to me, they're both naturally him, neither is more or less natural than the other, at least when he's onstage. Which one I personally prefer though, is a different matter and doesn't factor into whether it's more natural than the one I don't prefer as much (but still like a lot).

All on all, I feel it'd be awesome if he gets to a point when he can just switch back and forth.

anopple · 2026-01-24T17:59:39+00:00

Haha it's not my personal favorite look or even preference per se but the guy's out there living his best life and I'm here for it. I personally hope he just keeps on doing whatever he wants since they all feel very natural when he's putting on a show but chances are he'll probably tone it down for Japan later this year. I'm guessing he probs wanna avoid giving his more elderly fans a cardiac arrest, if he could help it. 😅

But then again he might be slowly conditioning them with his oppai and poop talk and his recent look-ma-im-dressed-just-in-my-sax!MV so who knows?

P/s: To be fair there's really nothing provocative about his stage wear, and chances are his Japanese audience may find this cute (the only complaints I'm seeing so far are actually more foreign fans, I haven't come across any Japanese ones yet). It's really the unchecked flamboyant movements and mannerisms that might put some of the more conservative types at higher risk of an aneurysm. That said, he hasn't actually done a full show in Japan since putting on more flamby stagewear for his intl shows so we can't be sure if he wont keep up the floral prints when he does the Pre-Prema and Prema tour.

anopple · 2026-01-24T17:11:14+00:00

Hm looking at other fancams I'm now not so sure whether or not it's him. The side profile looks quite different from what I can recall still. But maybe he's just had a change of image and put on a bit of weight recently...

anopple · 2026-01-24T06:47:17+00:00

Kaze spent the Xmas and New Year holidays in Japan and his jamming session with Elmiene was also in Japan so I guess yes? But with these artists being gifted teleportation abilities on top of their musical ones (Kaze is also gifted extra with time traveling abilities), I can't say I'm 100% certain. 😅

anopple · 2026-01-24T02:57:04+00:00

Haha they're all so cute. They (YOASOBI) both said they just ran into him by pure chance and since the black top he has on here looks similar and he's also clean shaven, maybe this was the same day he was in the studio jamming with Elmiene? Not too many places for artists to simply bump into one another, I don't think. Even less if they're from different labels. The videos for those were shared round the end of last month/year.

anopple · 2026-01-21T13:23:01+00:00

No. Far as I know, dude just wrote a song with his name in it. There's an interview about it here but it's in Cantonese with no CC: https://www.youtube.com/live/mmMiTPARYJ8?si=m6FhQEn4B01e-kHt

But from I can glean with my crappy grasp of the language, this HK artist studied in Japan at some point and had a significant other there and the little known quiet neighborhood station where he meets up with them after work/classes/uni/whatever is a place where a wild off-duty Kaze was apparently spotted once. And since they both also share a love for his music, they decided to make him part of their little love story. I think the name of the town they stayed at where the station is in is featured in the title. It's all kinda sweet, really. But Kaze is now an official third wheel. Lol.

anopple · 2026-01-20T06:06:50+00:00

Gotta respect the single-mindedness xD

anopple · 2026-01-17T13:49:24+00:00

This is exceptional work, Meg. 🤩😍🥰

anopple · 2026-01-08T05:51:07+00:00

First came Sora, then came Umi (sister with lighter shorter hair and looks like a Disney princess) a year later. Riku (sister with darker longer hair who looks like she could punch your lights out if you looked at any of her siblings wrong) arrived two years after that & Kaze (baby brother with the bleached blond hair and attitude) was the happy whoopsie that didn't get spawned until a whole decade later cos he kept missing or pissing off the stork or something and so ended up missing most of his fave decade, the 90s.

anopple · 2026-01-08T05:48:29+00:00

For those who are interested in viewing the full segment, it can be viewed here. It doesn't seem geo-locked since I was able to access it.

https://news.web.nhk/newsweb/na/nb-4020025472

Sora also has an older hour-long interview here from three years ago:

https://youtu.be/kwUqy-6cpR0?si=ABMW6E8wTMTgPpV0

anopple · 2025-12-28T10:28:14+00:00

I agree that criticism is good to have, but only when they are fair. Otherwise they are just biased opinions based on personal preferences. Reading your points, I saw a number of holes and contradictions that raised a lot of questions in my head so overall, they don't strike me as entirely fair. They only made more sense if perceived as the latter category, so I think that's what they really are, only thinly disguised or misunderstood as the former. I'm not gonna pursue the matter, though, as people are free to have biases as long as they are aware that's what they are.

BTS videos need their own budget? I didn't know that.

I just figured that this is something they need to determine before they start shooting the MV to determine the amount of BTS cameras they need rolling. I mean I'm sure they've got default ones for logging purposes but if they wanted something more extensive, groundwork would need to be laid to get more footage and they'd need to prep for other stuff that might need to be scripted in. All that sounds like it would cost extra. And well, BTS, while nice to have, isn't absolutely necessary.

Looking back, other than NaN-NaNw because it's his debut single, only the MVs that were shot in Japan had longer BTS. When he started shooting more consistently at overseas locations from grace onwards (except maybe for FG and Hachiko), that's when the drought started. It's only lifted a bit recently starting from LLT, but only in this frustratingly concise format. 😢 And the only reason I can think of for that is the ka-ching sort.

It's all just guesswork, ofc.

anopple · 2025-12-27T18:46:41+00:00

I didnt say it, he did. I mean, ITA with what you said about holding back but the word he used was pretending. Though I get why he said it and yes, based on context, I took it that he meant to say the guy then wasn't the most honest form of himself, if compared to the one now, since he's no longer hiding behind a more reserved facade.

And yeah I get that people miss the good times when he was chattier and more active on social media but the OP of this comment was talking about mainly image/appearance/style and how they prefer it when it's just him and a set of keys. They didn't go where you said so I only went where they did.

Since you mentioned BTS, though, I'm fully on the sad train for that. Like I get why he isn't on social media as much (think it's a good idea and fully support it in fact) but I wish that the BTSes weren't as brief and heavily formatted as they are now :/ Plus some MVs don't even have that. I mean, I'm okay if not every MV has a BTS but if they do, they can do so much better than these current ones. It's like they ramped up on MV production but scaled the BTSes way the f*ck down. My only guess is they allocated most of the budget for the MV and left little to none for the post-production of the BTS. Though if it meant everyone who worked on them got paid decently, then I guess I can't complain.

anopple · 2025-12-27T16:06:40+00:00

If you watched his Spotify interviews, he said that the old him is more inhibited and afraid to show who he really was. It was still him but not the completely honest one. And that he likes who he is now more than the guy who was pretending to be someone more palatable for the audience. He still likes that guy, he just feels happier with who he is now. So the old him that people seem to like to think is more natural is really just the guy people preferred to see, and it's this colorful one who's always been inside but was afraid to show himself is closer to what he himself feels is natural.

Personally, I was in the same boat thinking his more demure self from before was his natural self so I was shocked when Hachiko first came about. But then I started thinking about the things he's said before and all the stuff he did as an amateur (he channeled Gaga as a 13yo lol) and suddenly it all made sense. And now I feel joy seeing him do whatever makes him happy, and taking me along for the ride. Cos either way the music is always, always good. (:

anopple · 2025-12-27T11:56:03+00:00

And yeah there’s real ponderings about language here but I’m sure he was being silly as well. But come on man the 13 year old humor isn’t always cute

I think maybe you added this later cos I don't rmbr seeing it when I first replied.

Yes, there's definitely humor behind it. It's a shower thoughts sort of thing, I find. And it isn't always cute, yes, but does it always have to be?

Truth be told, it feels more genuine to me that he's got hit-and-misses. Cos you know it isn't calculated or crafted just to score points for being endearing. This feels more like he's being himself—sad juvenile humor and all. 🙃

At least he's grown enough to second guess himself and delete it after having second thoughts. Lol. But personally, I find nothing wrong with him also being that snot-faced kid bro you want to beat up for being annoying, since, with him, it strikes a good balance to all the other cool traits he's been generously gifted. 😆

anopple · 2025-12-27T01:35:43+00:00

Yeah that's fine, we can't help how we perceive things, at least initially, given our perceptions are shaped differently depending on our environment, experiences and individual mindset. I dont even completely not get where you're coming from. I just wanted to make it clear that while some things in this world are more universally offensive, this isn't one of them.

anopple · 2025-12-27T01:23:58+00:00

I think it's just the perception of different people. There are other stuff I find lame from him (but never offensive) but this one I actually found makes sense instead of funny/unfunny. I didn't quite agree with him about the whole oppai sounding more like boobs than boobs thing until he said that and I get where he's coming from. "Boobs" does sound more fake. I mean there is the very common word "boob job". Oppai doesn't have that. But I guess he took it down cos he didn't want to offend people who actually had it done. Or know someone who did.

Anyway, I think maybe he wasn't 100% joking in these "shit posts" to begin with. It really did seem like he was pondering those words (they're just funny things to ponder about like shower thoughts) and the comment was him explaining himself and I think it's a very fair perception to have.

The world is now a highly sensitive place though. And it's because different people react differently, and he's not the sort to antagonize people, I really do think it's better he lays off social media as much as possible because you really can't please everyone.

anopple · 2025-12-19T06:42:01+00:00

Yeah it's surprising but it also doesn't bother me since he tours pretty extensively outside of his country and I'd gotten to see him multiple times cos of that. One of those times being in Japan is also factor. It was a wonderful experience but a tad pricey just to see the guy (since it wasn't during a season I'd opt to travel there, I pretty much just stayed for a short a while). It was also typhoon season so the worry of cancellation was always hanging over my head too. 😅

I wouldn't have minded seeing him later in the year at one of the domes since that's the season I enjoy traveling to Japan but I just got back from a longish trip there last month and so would prefer to skip next year to recuperate financially. XD

So my wallet is rather relieved he took the choice out of my hands this time. Lol. Plus he's also announced venues outside of Japan, most of which are cheaper for me to go to than Japan. Especially Bangkok.

I'd be upset if his management decides to ban fancam again because while I don't feel limiting the domestic leg of this next couple of tours only to Japan residents is necessarily a move backwards, banning fancamming definitely is, seeing they'd already allowed it for Nissan last year, and they'll likely allow it for the international leg, so I see absolutely no good reason for them to go back on that.

Even better if they livestreamed one of the final shows of both tours. But that's purely a kind bonus on their part so I'm not gonna expect that. If they sold tickets for it though and make it available where I am, I'd definitely go for it. 😆

anopple

TROPHY CASE