Fan A: YOU is starting another photo contest next month!
New fan: What are you talking about? I'm not starting any contest! And dude, it's you ARE not you IS!!
Fan A: No, not you YOU, but GacktJob's YOU!!
New fan: What? What?? I'm not doing Gackt's job!
Fan A: Oh, never mind. *headdesk*

In the previous chapter, I talked about the terms and phrases frequently used on the internet, but before you wander off and start exploring the exciting world that is Gackt's fandom, let's review some of the basic things you should know as a Gackt fan. To avoid coming across as a complete newbie in this fandom, it's best if you remember the following terms too.

Dears

Gackt calls his fans Dears. Dears also happens to be the name of his fanclub and it used to be the name of his official website as well (the website went through major changes in July 2007, and it is now known as Gackt.com) Consequently, people started using "Dears" to create websites and communities to identify themselves as Gackt fans. For example, we have the Dears LJ community, WORLD DEARS, N.A Dears, etc. Some people like to call those who have joined the fanclub "Official Dears" and those who haven't "Unofficial Dears", but Gackt himself has never made such a distinction and regards all his fans as his Dears. Gackt has also written a song for his fans, aptly titled "Dears", which can be found on the Mars album as well as the Love Letter album (acoustic version).

Bands:
GacktJob

GacktJob is the name of Gackt's band members. Of the original six who started with Gackt, there are only three who still work actively as GacktJob now. Masa (guitar) was the first to quit GacktJob, followed by Toshi (drum). Ryu then joined GacktJob as the new drummer. Toshi still takes part in studio recordings occasionally, although most of the live performances and studio recordings are done by Ryu. Ren (bass) left GacktJob after the end of "Kagen no Tsuki" tour and was replaced by Ju-ken. In 2006, Ryu also left GacktJob and the position of drummer was given to Jun-ji.

Here are the current members of GacktJob: YOU (violin, guitar), Chachamaru (guitar), Ju-ken (bass), Jun-ji (drums), Igao (keyboard).

Malice Mizer

Malice Mizer was a visual kei band formed by Mana and Közi in 1992. They changed vocalists three times throughout their history and those changes were almost always accompanied by a drastic change in image and style of music. Gackt was the second vocalist to join Malice Mizer. He joined in 1995 and after releasing two albums, one short film and a number of successful singles, left the band in 1999. Malice Mizer drummer, Kami, who was especially close to Gackt, passed a few months after Gackt left the band and even now Gackt still mourns his death. Gackt visits his grave every year and mentions him often in his diary and comments.

Malice Mizer was famous for their dramatic gothic style. They gained popularity during the visual kei boom and the band often made public appearances in heavy make-up and historical costumes. In fact, they were rarely, if ever, seen without their make-up! Their music had a strong French and classical influence and they are famous for their lavishly decorated stage sets during their live shows. They eventually disbanded in 2001.

S.K.I.N

This new "super band" was formed in 2007. Members of the band include former X JAPAN member, Yoshiki, former LUNA SEA member, SUGIZO, and Miyavi. The band performed for the first time at Anime Expo on 29 June in Long Beach, California. This was Gackt's first official live performance in America. Nothing else has been revealed about the new band or their future plans. There have been rumors of a tour in Japan as well, though the news has not been confirmed yet. For more details, please go to our Work - Projects: SKIN section.

Projects and Collaborations:
MOON Project

MOON project was started in 2001. The first MOON-related work that was released was ANOTHER WORLD single. (You can read more about the different works in our Works of Moon section under MOON) All the fans thought that the Moon project ended with the release of Crescent album in 2003, but Gackt surprised us all when he announced in 2005 that he was continuing the MOON project. Gackt revealed that the MOON project has four chapters in total, and the story told previously was only the fourth chapter. The next work he released, DIABOLOS, took place at the end of chapter two. Gackt has also mentioned that more of chapter two and three will be revealed in the next album. For more details about the MOON project, please go to our MOON section.

Moon Child

Moon Child is a movie released in 2003 and is part of the MOON project. Gackt wanted to express the story of MOON through various media and came up with the idea for the movie in 2001. He gathered together a group of actors who he thought best represented the characters in the story, and this resulted in an international cast of Japanese, Taiwanese and Hong Kong actors. This movie gathered a lot of attention in Japan as it starred Gackt and HYDE, and it was the acting debut of the two lead actors. You can read more about the movie in our Work - Movie: Moon Child section.

GIFT concept

The GIFT project was started in 2004, after the album Crescent was released. There were three major works released under GIFT Project. The first was The Sixth Day album, which was a re-recording of his singles. The second was The Seventh Night ~unplugged~ album, in which the songs were re-recorded in various acoustic arrangements. He did a tour in 2004, The Sixth Day and Seventh Night tour, which covered the songs in these two albums. The last album of the GIFT concept was Love Letter, which was his first collection of ballads. Gackt has said that he undertook the GIFT project as a way to give back to the fans for their support over his first five years as a solo artist.

風林火山 Fuurin Kazan

Fuurin Kazan is a Taiga drama which aired in Japan in 2007. The drama focuses on the rise of the Takeda family during the Warring States period (Sengoku jidai) and the rivalry between Takeda Shingen and Uesugi Kenshin. The main character of the story is Yamamoto Kansuke, who was Takeda Shingen's most trusted vassal and advisor. Gackt played the role of Uesugi Kenshin in this drama.

Uesugi Kenshin 上杉 謙信 (Nagao Kagetora 長尾景虎)

Uesugi Kenshin was a powerful warlord who ruled the Echigo province during the Sengoku period in Japan. His prowess on the battlefield and military expertise made his followers believe that he was the incarnation of Bishamonten, the god of war. He is also known as "The Dragon of Echigo" due to his fearsome skills on the battlefield. The life-long rivalry between Takeda Shingen and Uesugi Kenshin became legendary as the two were brilliant strategists and victory could not be decided. They fought five battles altogether but neither Uesugi nor Takeda managed to defeat the other in any of the battles. The rivalry between the two ended with Takeda's death. Two years later, Uesugi Kenshin fell ill and passed away too.

Gackt has also appeared in the Kenshin-kousai (Kenshin Festival). His first participation was in 2007, where he took part in the march procession as well as the reenactment of the 4th Battle of Kawanakajima. He made an appearance again the following year, also for the march procession and the reenactment scene. It's probably safe to assume that we'll be seeing Gackt-Kenshin participating in this event again in the future!

Final Fantasy

Gackt's songs have been used frequently as soundtracks for various animations, and Final Fantasy was one of them. Though many have remarked on the startling resemblance of the character Squall from Final Fantasy VIII to Gackt, there had never been any official announcement of Gackt being used as a model for the character. His first collaboration with Final Fantasy was in 2006, when his song, REDEMPTION, was used as the main theme for Final Fantasy VII~DIRGE OF CERBERUS, a sequel to the original Final Fantasy VII.

Longing was also used as an insert song for the game. Other than providing the theme song, Gackt also appeared as the mysterious character, Genesis or "G", in the game. Unlike the way game characters are usually animated, Final Fantasy decided to experiment with a new type of CG technology where Gackt himself appeared in the game world as Genesis. One year later, Final Fantasy VII ~Crisis Core was released, in which Gackt as Genesis played a major role. Read our Work - Anime: FFVII Dirge of Cerberus section for more details on his work with Final Fantasy.

Genesis (G)

Genesis is the character Gackt played in the game Final Fantasy VII~DIRGE OF CERBERUS. Not much is known of this character as he only appears in the secret epilogue of the first game. However, there have been speculations that Genesis is actually Sephiroth's prototype. The secret ending hints at a sequel and Square Enix has since announced that Genesis will make an appearance in the PSP game Final Fantasy VII~Crisis Core, which was released one year later. More of the character and the mystery revolving around Genesis was unveiled in this game.

Trivia: Gackt wore the costume designed for Genesis during his DIABOLOS tour, as well as in his REDEMPTION PV.

Gundam

Gackt is a huge fan of Gundam and has publicly admitted to it on more than one occasion. He even admitted to memorizing and practicing the lines from the series in the toilet! He does impersonations of the characters very well, which often results in him being asked to demonstrate his impersonating skills on TV shows. His favourite character is Char Aznable. The TV hosts often bring up the topic of Gundam (Utaban even went so far as to bring in Gundam toy robots!) during their talk and Gackt himself makes references to Gundam in his interviews at times. The height of Gundam fever was during his collaboration with Gundam for the Kidou Senshi Z trilogy in 2005 and 2006. Almost every TV show that he appeared on during that time prepared something related to Gundam, much to Gackt's delight. You can read more about his collaboration with Gundam in our Work - Anime: Gundam section.

Char Aznable (The Red Comet)

Char Aznable is one of the main antagonists from the anime series Gundam. Char appears in "Mobile Suit Gundam", "Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam" and "Char's Counterattack". Born Casval Rem Deikun, Char Aznable is also known as 'The Red Comet," "Edward Mass," and "Quattro Bajeeno" (Quattro means 4 in Italian, which symbolizes his fourth alias). Gackt often makes reference to Char or The Red Comet in his interviews and comments.

Trivia: Gackt did an impersonation of Char Aznable during the Hey! Hey! Hey! 13th anniversary special live event.

Image character:
Kawaguchi Autorace

2007 was Gackt's third and final year as the official image character for Kawaguchi Autorace. It's not surprising that Gackt agreed to be the image character for Kawaguchi Autorace since Gackt loves to ride on bikes himself. Gackt makes an appearance at the Kawaguchi Autorace whenever there is a special race event. Kawaguchi Autorace also produces many of the best Gackt posters, which are unfortunately not for sale. There is more written about Kawaguchi Autorace in the Places of Interest section.

Takano Yuri

Takano Yuri Beauty Clinic is a beauty salon. Gackt appeared in the commercials for Takano Yuri for five consecutive years. However, he turned down the offer for the first time in 2007, saying that he wanted to focus on filming for Fuurin Kazan, in which he acted as Uesugi Kenshin. He has not appeared in a cm for the clinic ever since.

Although the male leading role in the CMs is usually given to Gackt, the beauty salon has changed the image character for the female frequently over the years. It was only in 2005 that the company finally decided on using Ryoko Yonekura as their female image character. She has since appeared in three Takano Yuri commercials, of which two were done with Gackt. More about Takano Yuri CMs can be found in the Work - CM section.

Endorsements/Products:
Upty

Upty is the mascot of Orico, which is a credit card company, and he comes in various colours. Blue-Upty is the one that appears most often with Gackt in commercials. The cute little doll is not available for sale, though Dears often gives away Upty dolls whenever there is a joint campaign with Orico.

DARTS

DARTS is a brand of accessories which Gackt produces himself. There are five main designs under DARTS: GIGOR, TAUJAN, KARSHR, deaf breed, and peerage. All the rings, bracelets, necklaces, and earrings that you often see him wear in public are under the DARTS brand, including the onyx bracelet. Other than jewelry, the DARTS brand also includes a line of original goods, such as T-shirts, towels, cellphone strap, fragrance, as well as bracelet designs for each member of GacktJob. More information about DARTS can be found in the Work - Fashion: DARTS section.

Tamaly Bar

Gackt opened the exclusive members-only Tamaly Bar restaurant in Tokyo a few years ago, but closed it in 2006. The reason was not announced. Gackt started this restaurant as he wanted a place where he could spend some time with his friends without having to worry about being seen by the public. Most of the food served was prepared using Gackt's family recipes.

Random:
Mei

Gackt has a female Maine coon cat as a pet and he named her Mei. You can find pictures of Mei in the collection of cards that comes with Platinum Box VI. He mentions his pets often in interviews and even compared them to females before! ^^;;

Belle Constantine Chappy

Gackt has a dachshund dog, which he named Belle Constantine Chappy. Belle can be seen in a few magazines, and also in the cards that come with Platinum Box VI. He talked extensively about Belle and raising a dog in a Pop Jam show in 2002. Screencaps are available in our Clips section.

Eneru

Eneru is a white Chihuahua, born July 11, 2006. In 2007, on his birthday, Gackt.com started a new section "Soldier Eneru's diary", which can be found in the Dears Only section. Dears started giving out Eneru stickers to the first 5,000 people who applied for the "Dears" card and "Save our Dears" card in 2008.

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