Kamijo Yuuji

Kamijo Yuuji

????

It fascinates as much as it exasperates, we can sum up Kamijo as well.
The fans idolize it, the others do not understand and do not hesitate to go there with their harsh criticisms. I am not in any of these boxes, I am between the two camps ...
I discovered him a long time ago, on a Lady Oscar forum with a LAREINE video, their cover of the original opening of the series. Not a fan of the voice at first, the charism immediately fascinated me visually. Long blond hair, a costume reminiscent of Oscar's uniforms and group photos of colorful and poetic romanticism and an already very special stage presence.?

At the beginning it stopped there, Kamijo and his friends were part of the huge Oscar world between derivatives and Artbooks.
At the time of creating my site, around 2008/2009 on the vast Ikedian subject, yes the same one where you stroll, I search again on the internet to complete my infos on LAREINE… and there I discover the evolution, the trailer of Versailles, the clips of "Aristocrat Symphony" and "Revenant Choir" and music that I like very much. It's also a shock because vocally as musically it's more the same lemonade ! Oscar is far away, it was Lestat who took power. It is not to displease me because since I read Anne Rice this vampire became one of my favorite characters. My name on web is Elbereth de Lioncourt anyway ! I loved the music but it wsn't the time for me to fell in love...

A few years in the doll collectors forums and my own addiction to the collection took me a little away from the Ikedian world, never far away but less present. Kamijo came back to him through a special doll, my "Véronique Blond Ambition", which became a little thanks to him my little Vampire adored by the resemblance to the character of LAREINE. He was always a little there with her. She became "my little Kamijo".

The resemblance is disturbing, isn't it?

I fell completely in love in 2015, again by chance and the music completely took me away this time. As always when I enter a new passion, I am bulimic with music, info and images too, even if all this mass of sometimes pompous photos sometimes exasperated me. The narcissistic and grandiloquent side of the character is quite disturbing because it attracts as much as it puts off. The beauty of the images captivated me and the pompous side of certain music, attitudes or staging horrified me, without ceasing to have this almost hypnotic appeal. Not to mention the completely megalomaniac side of the character ... but in the end it's rather funny ! And he is much less megalomaniac than other artists ... Or he shows it less ...
Whether we like it or not we cannot deny the charisma and the incredible scenic presence of the artist. It was the concert videos that I liked the most, and it still is.
During my wanderings on the web, I discovered blogs, articles and interviews. Between blind complimentary comments, admiration of enamored girls, often teenage girls (the "cutes" / "Kawaï") but also more mature women whose conversations and tweets are unambiguous ... and great music specialists who criticize at all costs , I put my two feet in the world fans and his detractors. The bios blooms everywhere and were all modeled on the same, people transcribe information without checking and take all things written for true...
It is sometimes difficult to find your way in the jungle of articles, biographies, interviews and other fanfictions disguised as biographies concerning the artist, without counting the characters like Sims or dolls in his effigy and various RPGs ...
So I will try here to make my own version of Kamijo's bio, no actually I will try to present the character in its entirety and its complexity, the word biography does not seem appropriate to me, it is more an article on him ultimately.

Unlike many artists in the Visual Kei community, we know his real name and date of birth and even his real head without makeup. An artist like Mana, founder of "Malice Mizer" and "Moi Dix Moi" for example is an absolute mystery: we don't know his real name, his age nor his real face nor even his voice since he is not never expresses in public (well if he opened his mouth once and said a word). Like what to preserve its private life is possible if you are a myth of Visual in Japan !

I will therefore try to take the information and cross-check it with the interviews, the live videos ... I will not be content like everyone else to simply pump up the bio that circulates everywhere, we must go further than what 'we read, articles like those of Wikipedia or others were written by a person like you and me, nothing is absolute truth, it is to be taken with tweezers and to check if the article does not quote enough its sources.

And this article is in the same frame and will be modified if there are things which prove to be inaccurate. Nothing is frozen with him ! We read so many contradictory things ... and it seems that he also tells a lot of things that contradict each other ... among others ...

To return to Kamijo, we know that he was born on July 19, 1975 in Kanagawa. Some articles say that he comes from a family of musicians. I found the interview where he talks about it? ( forum de la cour de Versailles - l'article du Magazine Rock One N°43 de Mai 2008 ).

He explains that he has always evolved in a musical environment. His grandmother played the piano, his grandfather the violin and his mother taught the keyboard.
His childhood was rocked by music. Paradoxically he did not want to make it his profession and follow in their footsteps. He wanted to be a tennis player, a sport his parents also practiced. He then talks about an anecdote where he would have quarreled with his older brother during a training session because he used to hold his pack like a guitar and to sing the "Guitar Heros" which had the gift of irritating him and deconcentrate it. I read another version of this anecdote in another interview where it was not his older brother but a senior from the tennis club who would have lectured him and provoked this reaction to hold the racket like a guitar. We can also read a mention of this story in an interview with? Vicious april 1999 and is official website mention this anecdote too, in his personal profile. Well there is something with a tennis racket so ...
He also says in this same interview mentioned above, that he listened to a lot of classical and instrumental music like Paul Mauriat and that it was this music that decided him to make it himself. Some blogs mention a father who died when he was a child, a sister (I once read that she would have died too, but this is probably wrong). He has a police cousin in Los Angeles (said in an interview by Jame UK for coming to the US). He said in the interview "100 questions to Kamijo" that he lost too many close people but as this interview takes place after the death of bass player Jasmine You we cannot say with certainty what he is talking about exactly ... in the same person he most admires is his father and that's all he delivers.

Another interview for the Rock And Read n°019 ( Russian version here, translate in french by Google here on the blog) reveals another version of his childhood. Music lessons were originally reserved for his sister, and this from early childhood. Tennis seems to have been a parental will. He forced himself to like it but in the end he said he doubted that in the end he really liked it. His parents played there and pushed their son, and in Japan there is no protest.
He also talks a lot about his childhood in elementary school, he was a liar and seems to have had a lot of problems with the other students who molested him and called him a fag because of red pants and his long hair. There is a certain suffering from all this. Maybe his desire to please everyone and seduce the public comes from there ...

We don't know anything else about his family and his private life and it's just as well like that ... but the discoveries of translated interviews are always a mine of information, especially in the magazine Rock And Read where he seems to indulge a lot.

It is commonly known that his entry into the music world was in the 90s since he was a roadie (the roadies are all this team of arms and technicians who are essential to the setting up of concerts and preparation of scenes during group tours for example) for the visual group Malice Mizer.
It was there that he met Mayu, a young man with whom he founded his first group: LALIENE, future LAREINE, in 1994. He was only 19 years old at that time and he made his debut in the world of music. . At that time he called himself Shoki before taking his real name on stage.
I will not repeat here all the details of the evolution and careers of the different musical groups to which Kamijo belonged so to read the history of his different groups click on their names below :

LAREINE – NEW SODMY – Node of Scherzo - VERSAILLES – KAMIJO

In the bios available on the canvas, Kamijo wears different caps: singer, author, composer, musician, producer, actor and model. Just that. Before qualifying Mister K as a Swiss Army knife, I will try to clear and detail the thing.

Singer

So there yes it is certain, he sings ! It seems to me necessary to dwell a little on his vocal capacities, because obviously this is the subject of debate between the great specialists who spend their lives on the internet, and not only them, even I am concerned ... I am not musician but I listen and I search.
In LAREINE's time, Kamijo sang in a very high pitched voice, a little nasal and really atypical which had become a signature in the end. The song was sometimes a bit wrong too. The "controversy" comes from the fact that since Versailles (well since the first show Node Of Scherzo) he sings in a radically different way, more deep and more powerful too, it has nothing to do, as if it were another singer ! The question arises : has he grafted new vocal cords !?!
The video above shows us the vocal evolution since the very beginnings of Laliene until the end of 2019, i.e. almost 25 years of evolution ...

I read people who said that it was not beautiful, that it forced itself to resemble other singers ... In fact if you listen to the first productions of LAREINE since the songs "Detest of Doll" and " Dir en Gray "from the first Demo Tape to the following albums we are quite surprised to hear a deeper voice in the first songs, the music itself is also more rock than afterwards… it sings quite wrong but not at all in the treble and with a certain energy .. In the mini album "Blue Romance - L'histoire d'amour trop chagrin" lets us hear a timbre which is sought between low and high. The voice arises during concerts, singles and albums to reach its stability during "Lillie Charlotte" and "Fleur"
It is a fairly slow development in the end. The music of LAREINE is quite soft, even if some songs are very rock, the universe is magical and romantic. The sharp and particular voice has certainly helped to differentiate them from other musical groups. If the universe of New Sodmy was different, it nevertheless kept its way of singing.

It was at the time of the creation of Versailles that the most notable change took place by going back to the bass tones. If in the song "The Revenant Choir" he sings in a rather acute way in the continuity of LAREINE he adopts there after a radically different way of singing and which is much more appropriate to the style of music of Versailles. LAREINE stopped at the end of 2006 and Versailles starts in June 2007. Meanwhile, in spring, the first of the three shows of "Node of Scherzo" is played, and we already see that on this song he sings so radically different. He therefore had to work for around 4 months to change the way of singing which had been his for over ten years ...

I read in an interview from the time of the album Lyrical Sympathy ( Interview Alive n°11 - 2007 - Forum "La cour de Versailles" )that his vocal power was causing him concern and that he was working hard to remedy it. In another interview ( Interview with Kamijo / november 2015 : Akataiyou-no-nihon ) he confirms that he used intensive vocal training at the start of the Versailles group as well as at the start of his solo career and that he continued to work to adjust his voice. There is a lot of work behind it all. It also seems that for him power rhymes with deep voice ...
A fan told me that he had done weight training to expand his rib cage and improve his breath. Maybe that also explains its current vocal power. It is certain that the guy has changed his figure since his beginnings, we can clearly see it on the first photo dating from the "Noble" period where he does not have his stage costume, with a simple T-shirt we can visualize better, compared to a photo from the New Sodmy period (Cat Walk tour) when it was still extremely fine, it seems that it is again thinner now ...

Since he started in Solo, his voice has evolved further, and he sings in a really serious way on certain songs, like the symphonic version of «Aristocrats Symphony » from the album "Royal Blood -Revival best" after for my part I think that it forces a little the tone in these low notes, it is the impression that I have (but I am not specialist) that remains nevertheless very beautiful to listen to. And even if his song is "forced" according to some he is able to hold during a whole concert by singing in this way, and to have seen it live three times he always sings the same from one live to another as what either solo or within Versailles, he is very professional at this level.

Small note, a very atypical song from the album "Noble" lets us hear a "natural" voice, it is "Épisode" a song with a musical style very different from the whole album, intimate and with Miyazakian accents. .. the song is sober, not forced and the voice seems to be his real voice, neither over-acute nor serious ... We find the same range on the title "Hajimari No Yoru" release with the calendar of 2015. For me it is undoubtedly the titles or his voice is the most natural. Since the return from Versailles in 2016, we note however that the voice seems to take this path of a song closer to its nature, the solo album "Sang" is also in the same vein. In 2019 "Eye of Providence" shows us a very good control and a strong return to treble, it seems to have found a way to be powerful without forcing in the bass ...

Autor – Compositor

The information are certains for that too, he composes and writes. Having browsed the individual files of LAREINE's albums on the Discogs site, we can see that he wrote almost all of the texts of LAREINE's time as well as the majority of music. Mayu, Emiru and Machi also composed sometimes, Mayu wrote some lyrics but the vast majority of the songs are from Kamijo. The group participated in the arrangements, sometimes it was other people.
The NEW SODMY period is brief but it seems that he wrote the majority of the group's texts as well as some of the music, AYA, YOU and Mayu also composed a lot.

In the time of Versailles he was the main author, some texts are by Hizaki but there are few. For the melodies, he composed like Hizaki and Teru. Masashi more rarely.
He often says he likes his own poetry, his words / poems are the best (the "Kamijo Megalo" with finesse ...).
Many of the most famous and emblematic songs of Versailles are compositions by Kamijo ("Aristocrat's Symphony", "Love from a dead Orchestra", "God Palace", "Masquerade" ...)

For his solo career he composes and writes alone, some arrangements are his, Meku one of his regular guitarists also helps him for composition and arrangements.
He also works with the same person, Keiichi Takahashi, since the album "Jubilee", many of the arrangements of his songs are from him, like all those from the album "Royal Blood". He himself confides in an interview that it is more complicated to have everything to manage alone (Interview for JaME US ). I also read that he claimed to be self-taught for composition.
He likes film music and his instrumentations are very cinematographic and this since LAREINE. We can note on "Castrato" in 2017 a real inspiration from the music of Hans Zimmer for "Batman - The Dark Knight" in the intro. His style is recognizable, very symphonic, many choirs and violins, orchestrations sometimes grandiose sometimes more intimate, melodies easy to remember and a mixture of the most improbable styles ... Since 2017 and "Castrato" it seems that the symphonic parts are more important and grand.

Musician

With regard to musical instruments, there is various information about those which Kamijo plays or not. We find everything, he plays the guitar and the piano not to mention bios from fan blogs (very few) where he can play the violin!
The most common phrase is that which was in the old Nautiljon.com (before Idecide to change it): "Kamijo also plays a little guitar but never live. (He's the one who plays the guitar on most of the songs on LAREINE's album "SCREAM" and we can see him playing for a short time during certain lives, especially during the song "emerald"). " Phrase that contradicts itself since it begins with "but never live" to end with "we see him playing during certain lives ..."
He plays the guitar. We also see him on stage with his guitar on rare photos from the time of LAREINE, in concert with his beautiful blue guitar. Not very often because I suppose, in view of its very theatrical stage play, that the guitar must hinder it in its gestures. And he sings above all.

On LAREINE's album "Scream", during the period when he was the only member of the group, I read that he played the guitar on all the songs, sometimes alone as on "Miss Carmilla" accompanied by other musicians on the other tracks. He is credited as guitarist on the tracks (see details of the album's tracks on Discogs: "Vocals, Lyrics By, Producer, Guitar, Executive Producer - Kamijo")

As for the piano or the keyboard, this instrument is often mentioned but there too there is controversy since some claim that it can only play the guitar.
Outside we can read many interviews where this point is discussed. We can read it in the interview with Visual Vice, I quote "(...) VV: When you are part of a group that works well for several years, isn't it hard to start all over again or on the contrary is KAMIJO: If it is to give birth to a splendid work, I am ready to endure it all. This challenge started for me from childhood, when I started to play the organ electronic "and in the interview found on the forum:" The Court of Versailles "from 2007:" Q: Otherwise at what age did you start music and do you know how to play another instrument than yours? Hizaki: I started at the age of 12. I can play bass too. Kamijo: just like Hizaki I started music at the age of 12. There was a piano and a synthesizer so I naturally went to these instruments. Otherwise I play a little guitar. "

I recently found a Russian translation of an interview from Versailles, maybe 2009, for Rock And Read n ° 019 (Russian version here) an English translation is available HERE, it's a closed facebook group, come and join us , I am the administrator.
In this interview he talks more specifically about his childhood, and he reveals that if his sister was entitled to piano lessons, he would not. His parents had chosen tennis which he did not appreciate more than that. Japanese education is fairly strict in general and it seems that his was no exception. In this interview he tells how he came to the guitar alone. He started playing the keyboard on the family electronic organ to play the melody of "Dragon Quest" a video game, he played with a finger and finally asked his mother to help him. His sister had benefited from music and piano lessons since childhood and already composed melodies, he was "forced" to play tennis, a great feeling of injustice emerged from this interview.

His favorite keyboard / Twiter - In his recording studio, yes there must be sun inside, never without his glasses ...
At the FC Christmas party in 2016 and at the piano in the "Rock and Read" of February 2016.

In recent interviews, he says he composes his music on the keyboard and / or on the guitar, plus the computer of course (interview Coyote Mag & Le Journal du Japon ).
It is also credited to the programming on certain titles of Versailles. No, he doesn't write with a quill pen on a parchment ... (and he doesn't play violin either ...)
After we know nothing more than what he says himself, and we ignore his real level, as he says many different things according to the interviews, it is sometimes difficult to disentangle the true from the false with such a character. It seems that he played the piano at an FC concert and we also saw him with his guitar at another FC event.

Producer

Kamijo founded his first label when he found himself alone at the head of the LAREINE group in 2000. It is the independent label Applause Records (namesake of an American record company which existed between 1981 and 1988, not to therefore confuse). Applause Records is now part of its new production company founded in 2006.
He produced the groups / artists LAREINE, Izabel Varosa, Kanzaki and BELLES.
(Production details : http://visualkei.wikia.com/wiki/Category:APPLAUSE_RECORDS )
In 2007, therefore, he founded a new Sherow Artist Society label after the final cessation of LAREINE. I will not go into the details of the history of the label, just to quote the artists that it has, or that it still produces : Metis Gretel, Juka, Hizaki, Hizaki Grace Project, The- UnForGiveness, Matenrou Opera, Lusia , Dollis Marry, Emiru solo project and MU.
Sherow Artist Society seems to coexist with Château Agency, because the two logos are used on the CDs of his Solo career and his new official website ... Château Agency also produced the artist Kaya (with whom he sang within from Node of Scherzo) from February to September 2016, Kaya having ended their collaboration, only one single was released on the three initially planned, singles composed by Kamijo. We will not know anything more but the two musicians no longer appear in the same events, no Kaya either at the Rose Fes 2017 the annoyance seems serious.

At the beginning of 2017, he produced a new artist, SUI under the name of David, who also made his live premiere as the first part of the final concert of the Versailles tour on February 4, 2017, in Paris at "La Machine du Moulin Rouge ". David left Château Agency in August 2017 for his own Label and is launching his first paid single (the first "GENESIS" having been distributed free of charge via an online download coupon distributed on February 4 in Paris at its world premiere). The separation was cordial this time.

The Sherow Artist Society site also refers to the Official Kamijo site, Château Agency for all the news and has not been updated since April 2015, even if a google search shows that the domain name statuses have been updated in 2016.
It is notable that all the artists produced by Kamijo do not stay long under contract with him. Bad producer? Too directive? Not present enough? Or does it just serve some people to make themselves known more widely by using their notoriety? Nothing filters but it should be noted ... production is a profession.
To continue in the vein of LAREINE and self-production, Kamijo was also the executive producer of Versailles of course (before the group signed with Warner Music Japan from the album Jubilee), of the session Node of Scherzo and his Solo career where he was also signed to Warner Music Japan. He was also executive producer in his solo career before signing for Warner Music Japan. Note that it is still credited as co-producer on the records. Currently he seems to be the only producer, which no doubt explains the exorbitant prices of the Deluxe edition of "Sang" ...

He also has a personal recording studio that can be seen in Louis pamphlet and in a Be-Choir trailer

( What is an independent label : http://www.stereolux.org/quest-ce-que-cest-inde ).

"Actor"

We often mention an acting experience. Little information on this subject.
He would be on stage for a play, "Tokyo Eki" in the role of Rio Sama, a musician. No info on the part, no photo. Just a mention in two interviews (Interview for the Court of Versailles Christmas 2007- Interview April 2008 for Orient Extrême)
We can also add the short film "Ascendead Master" where all the members play mysterious and mute characters, except Kamijo who speaks with an extremely filtered voice, is this his ?

Finally, with the members of the Versailles group, he participated in a TV show "Onegai Kanaete Versailles" which went on TV from January to March 2011, 10 episodes : Onegai Kaneate Versailles.

In my opinion, this experience remains very limited to qualify Kamijo Yuuji as an actor. He himself said in an interview that this is not his primary vocation and that it was mainly used to improve his stage expression in concert.
More recently, however, he is talking about a film, he would like to make a film in which he would embody the villain and he also confides that he would like to shoot with Tom Cruise, but all of this may just be an interview joke as he knows how to do it often.

Model

He posed for Mana's clothing brand : Moi-Même-Moitié,as well as for the brand "Alice and the Pirates" in which he also paraded in 2008 during a fashion show with other visual artists ( Interview JaME ). This last brand is credited in the coordination of costumes on the album "Symphony of the Vampire". In 2014, he paraded as a guest at the AgriArt Festival alongside the wife of the Japanese Prime Minister.

On peut trouver en ligne de nombreux clichés de Kamijo dans des tenues plus conventionnelles et à la mode. Des photos prises dans les rues, des lieux à l'atmosphère particulière ou les cafés et bien photoshopées comme il se doit. J'ai l'impression que tous ces artistes japonais usent et abusent de photoshop ! Ce sont le plus souvent des shootings réalisés pour des calendriers, des magazines et des sets de photos. Un joli garçon toujours très élégant, un dandy moderne pour faire rêver les jeunes filles...

As we have seen on this site about the Rose de Versailles merchandising and derivative products are highly developed in Japan. It seems that the world of Visual Kei and music in general is no exception. So calendars, T-shirts and other fantasies "with the image of" must exist in number, not to mention food goodies like cookies and chocolates. There are also sets of photos for sale, unpublished or unpublished photos, available from photo sessions such as calendars or photo books. Beautiful glossy prints sold by four shots to what I could see (but that can vary in the number of photos).
There are also these small photos like polaroids, with an often average quality. On Facebook I read that it was called chekis. A fan site from another music group( les °C-ute ) explains how and under what conditions these pictures are taken. The procedure differs according to the groups but we can say that they are polaroids taken with or without fans difficult to find in scans on the web, taken on the spot during particular events, like Halloween shows or promotional events. Obviously it sells quite expensive on the secondary market. The concert of December 28, 2015 seemed to be rich in Kamijo chekis in all the outfits possible and imaginable that he wore throughout his career in view of what is lying on the web ...

Having myself participated in two takes of Checkis in 2016, then one in 2018, I could see the speed of the installation. In a corner at the entrance to a concert at the bottom of the staircase or a slightly more suitable place for that, like at the Pavillon Dauphine, before entering the hall. It's fast, with or without hand tightening, the artist's pose varies little, it's professional, it goes fast. It is noteworthy to note that for the European tour of 2018, some fans suggested to pose differently and that each time he lent himself to it with good grace. It is still quite funny to compare his checkis between fans, because as a rule he always has the same head, he is perfect like a wax statue!
Notable thing: the Checki from Paris to the Boule Noire in September 2015 was not originally planned, it is rare enough to note it in the middle of the Visu ... especially since it was free for everyone world, not just VIPs.

The Checki of la Boule Noire, and that of the Pavillon Dauphine.
Yes a Checki it can be missed there were a lot of missed photos, hence two cameras on Sunday at La Boule Noire.

This particular merchandising, and it seems to be very developed in Japan undoubtedly explains the ban on photos during concerts. Everything is good for making money, at € 18 per Checki (in September 2018) while recharging 12 polaroids costs € 18 on average ...
Given that musical rights in Japan do not seem to work as well as our SACEM (find the source article seen on the web ...), it also brings finance to groups and artists whose sales volumes must be very far from 'a Johnny or a Rihanna! It's a fairly confidential musical genre and it's still Japanese music sung in Japanese ... not to mention the absence of subtitles in video interviews or translations of Pamphlets and lyrics ...

From the time of Versailles and more recently with the Solo career, silver jewelry collections came out under the Artemis Classics label with three collections: "Symphony of the Vampire", "Heart" and "Royal Blood" and the small collection "Nosferatu" released in 2017. These are the jewelry worn by Kamijo himself during his official appearances and concerts and he also poses on promotional photos. Since 2018, it has been distributed by Eterno Récit, since its collaboration with Hatsune Miku.

It should also be noted that he has almost always worked with the same photographer for a very long time : Takaaki Henmi who is already credited in the staff of the album "Blue Romance" at the very beginning of LAREINE. We find in the works of this photographers on his site many discs of LAREINE and the Pamphlets and albums of Versailles as well as the Pamphlet of the Grand Final at the Zepp DiverCity of December 2015. He also made the photos of "Symphony of the Vampire" and "Royal Blood". This photographer has also worked with Hizaki Grace Project, Jupiter, Kaya, X-Japan, among others.

Radio Host

At the start of 2016, Kamijo diversified. He hosts a radio show and is also broadcast on TV in the form of narrative clips.
In January 2016 he started hosting a radio show "Bonjour Vampire" on FUJIFm every Tuesday from 7:30 p.m. to 7:55 p.m. Audible from Japan only. His first guest was Toshihiko Takamizawa leader of the group "The Alfee", which started in 1974 and which also benefited from an illustration by Riyoko Ikeda! We also saw him in photos on his blog with Asagi and Shinya for a recording.
This program was broadcast until June 2016. It resumed on Fresh TV in June 2017 and can be heard from all over the world. It is Friday between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m. in France. Nothing since late 2017.

The Alfee by Riyoko Ikeda - Asagi, Kamijo and Shinya on radio ( Kamijo's Blog Ameba )

In 2016 we could also see Kamijo on TV on channel 639 of the group "Music Japan" in a monthly music show called ?? ? ? ? ? ? KAMIJO ? ?? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?? which goes in the section "Music Express" at first sight c ' were clips around his storytelling concept. Broadcast on Friday evening in the second half of the evening in Japan and of course not visible from us. He unveiled during this show the continuation of his story of Vampire as suggested by the videos posted by a fan on twitter, Nobo who obviously films his TV. Thanks to him otherwise we would never have seen that.

The stage character and the musical universe

To fully understand the character, one must also understand the very particular artistic genre in which he is situated. Kamijo and his groups are part of Visual Kei. It's not a musical genre, because you can do Visual and play rock as well as pop. It is an artistic style which consists in making the music visual, the spectacle is also to be watched, sometimes even the visual outweighs the musical quality. Visu groups have costumes more or less worked and extravagant and more or less good taste ... (if indeed that "good" taste has its place in this universe so far from us ...)
"A Visual group is a group that needs a mirror before entering the scene" ... everything is said ...
The show must therefore be auditory and visual. I'm not going to do an article on gender here, I'm not an expert. I therefore advise you to read three articles by Marine Vidal(there are others if you click on its name) on the subject : « Tout le monde connaît X Japan », « Le monde des Masques », « Un corps d'homme dans une robe de femme ». Tous les trois vous éclaireront comme moi sur un monde vraiment très différent du nôtre et sur un genre purement japonais.

Le personnage de Kamijo se dessine et s'étoffe au fil des années. Les rares toutes premières photos des débuts de LALIENE montrent un look déjà androgyne, cheveux longs et maquillage. La première image en couleur est une photo du tout jeune Kamijo au naturel.

Over time, the hair becomes blond and curls. The makeup is colorful and feminine, even extravagant. A real androgyny is emerging. The years and the success coming, the costumes at the beginning a little "tinkered with the means of the edge" become more worked and the quality is seen. The looks of the LAREINE period are mainly composed of large coats, most often deep blue. At one time he wore a large ultramarine blue hat decorated with peacock feathers matched with a coat of the same color and also decorated with peacock feathers on the shoulder.

We can also see a long blue coat embroidered with gold, another which is reminiscent of Oscar de Jarjayes' uniforms ... Let us not forget that on numerous occasions in interviews he said that he liked this manga, that the group benefited from illustrations by Madame Ikeda and that he mentions her in a tweet about Margaret's new stories, he's a real fan.
The 18th century aristocrat and decadent dandy look has emerged over the years. Stage outfits are more flamboyant and roccoco inspired. Feathers are also often present throughout his career.
The Vampire style appeared later. Knowing that Neil Jordan's film "Interview with a Vampire" was released in 1994 it is not forbidden that he influenced the singer, who also said in numerous interviews, to like Anne Rice's books on character of Lestat, and that he is also a fan of Tom Cruise.
Elements still present in its current look are installed like black leather pants and high laced boots, white shirts with frills with wide sleeves decorated with lace at the cuffs. Not to mention the roses and the rain of petals still omnipresent in his current clips and concerts.

Since 2017, the costumes have become more sober, a long black coat, available in red and white in 2019, only a long blue and gold coat with cape in 2018, worn only for the purpose of concerts, keeps this Baroque style.

An exception however, the NEW SODMY period. No flamboyant stage costumes, more discreet or even absent makeup, the hair is rather short. There remains blond and blue lenses ... A trendy look and no androgyny. We are no longer in Visual but in more classic and conventional rock. The romanticism remains present in the lyrics (finally in the translations read) except maybe the song "Are you Sodmy?" very sexual and explicit.
It is interesting to underline that at this period all the members seem to be put on the same level and bring their stone to the group. It is quite visible in the scenic performances of the video CatWalk tour of 2002. During many concerts, all the members, Kamijo included, wear a simple black t-shirt with the logo of the group and the tour on the back. The other stage outfits are simple and no member is more highlighted than another. Except for the live shows and photos where Kamijo wears a white suit, there he is clearly the focus with the musicians in black behind him.

Exception, well yes and no, because at the turn of the 2000s, just before NEW SODMY, Kamijo already sported a more contemporary look within LAREINE. It was a troubled period when all the members had left and he found himself alone. Alone to make an album "Scream" and alone in photos and videos where we see a frail young man with short hair, too yellow, in a three-piece suit ten times too big for him. Kamijo has always been thin but there he is downright thin ...

It's a continuous evolution of look that goes hand in hand with music. The very first songs of Lalienne are pretty lambda, a pretty punchy rock style without any particular musical universe. Over the titles and time, the magical world and the soft, rock sound settle in. The album "Scream" is downright harder and more aggressive which cuts a little but which corresponds to the difficult period.

Reformation of LAREINE, before a final separation this time in 2006 and return to stage costumes and visuals. With Hizaki he created Versailles in 2007. The same year he created a musical show Node of Scherzo where he sang with Juka and Kaya, it is a session group which occurs during three shows, which also includes Hizaki and Jasmine You as well than other guest musicians. He plays the character of Louis and his outfit is very reminiscent of Louis and Lestat in Neil Jordan's film "Interview with a Vampire".

Kamijo becomes a Rock'n Roll aristocrat again and will never leave the vampire character. Each album or mini album has a different look, always very worked and in the baroque style of the Grand Siècle.
At the beginning of Versailles, he still wears a long wavy hair, some photos show him even with long straight hair, he even has a fake piercing in the mouth which is connected to a chain in the ear, attempt to look "Bad Boy "quickly abandoned. For the album "Noble" the hair is short and darker. The resemblance to Tom Cruise is funny in some shots. The blonde will return to the next album.
Hair styles are linked. Makeup also changes depending on the costumes. At this period the character expands, the silhouette too. Androgyny remains present, depending on the looks, it alternates between more "virile" periods and others more glamorous and downright ambiguous like "Destiny the Lovers" where it is very androgynous. The make-up is also a little lighter than at the time of LAREINE, finally it is more professional and controlled. He always succeeds in erasing his Japanese features, except during the period of the last album "Versailles" where his almond eyes are quite well developed.

Music follows this evolution. It's symphonic metal or power metal, depending on the titles. Kamijo composes just like Hizaki and Teru on the albums. It should be noted that the majority of the titles are composed by Hizaki but that the most emblematic, the "tubes" are the compositions of Kamijo, he writes almost all of the texts.
In 2012, their contract with their record company ended and since they had some complicated relationships with them, they took the opportunity to take a break. Kamijo, who has always wanted to make a Solo career, decides that it's time. The experience acquired in a group that has had the success and scope of Versailles allows him to have the keys to a solo career. In recent interviews he talks about the eternity of a solo career. An artist cannot separate himself, he has already seen enough group separations and the experience lived during LAREINE's album "Scream" has undoubtedly served him.

Today the character of Vampire is still there, another story takes shape with the legend of Louis XVII. It is more than ever in a universe which is located in the continuity of Ikeda, the vampires moreover, he skilfully mixes history and pure fiction. The music sometimes resembles what he did in the Versailles period, it is quite logical since he also composed for the group, also resurface sounds that remind LAREINE. The style is varied and can range from variety to metal.

Certain Net surfers, fans or not reproach him for making "under Versailles bis" but after all Versailles is part of his work too. He also knows how to renew himself and we feel that he is trying things, like "Moulin Rouge" in a very cabaret style, the song "Hell" in a very Latin style, "mademoiselle" is a song very "French variety" limit jazzy.
Costume level is fairly consistent in style, the hairstyle is stable too. He seems to have found an artistic balance. The music evolves in a more symphonic sense, generally slower in tempo, with beautiful very metal songs and really softer songs, lots of romantic ballads that he likes. I don't like everything but it is undeniable that it is constantly evolving.

To better understand the work of Kamijo I recommend the superb article / interview of Vyper magazine which for once changes from the others and makes us discover a real musical and poetic work! And don't hesitate to go to the section "Les histoires" of this site to find out more.

We talk about the history of poetry and the narrator. The translations available online show a coherent and rich universe. Romanticism, vampires, sad and romantic stories. Lots of shade and melancholy anyway.
In this interview, Kamijo talks about the song "Phantom" from the New Sodmy era as the true deep nature of what it is. She talks about a vampire hiding in the night. A bit brief and obscure ... Unless he talks about the character KAMIJO. In another interview where he is asked about Anne Rice and her favorite character in the novels he says that there is none and that we talk about him in the books.
More seriously most of the time he replies that it is Lestat that he prefers. Another way for him to mix things up. His character is clearly inspired by Lestat de Lioncourt and he identifies with him from a referential point of view for his scenic character, even if his character is often called Louis ...

I think for my part that Kamijo is in all his songs, there is him hidden in each text by small touches. For "Love from a Dead Orchestra" he himself says that he put his whole life there, the melody of "God Palace" speaks of him, the lyrics speak of the group. For "Love Will be born again" he expresses the human side of vampires by drawing on his own experience (Interview de la Street Team italienne à Rome - Forum de la Cour de Versailles )

The majority of these texts speak of love, all tinged with melancholy, with deep feelings. These main themes are vampirism and romanticism. We feel sadness, disappointment with disillusionment and hope too. The tone is generally quite dark. "Grand Pain" is very dark and speaks of betrayal, the period when the song was written being quite chaotic we can see its state of mind at that time.

Another recurring element: childhood. Already in LAREINE's time, children were present in certain clips, such as "Ticket" "Fuyu Tokyo" or the granddaughter of "Grand Pain".
Later in Versailles, childhood remains present, with the little vampire girl from the movie "Ascendead Master", who is reminiscent of the character of Claudia from the novels of Anne Rice. If the children in the clips of LAREINE were a vision of childish love, sweet nostalgia, "Ascendead Master" starts on a little girl in danger of death that doctors are trying to save, and who will be saved by a Vampire. She is an orphan and adopted by the Descendants of the Rose.
More recently, in his work Solo, we find childhood through the character of Louis XVII. A sad childhood broken by a revolution. A tragic historical fate of a little boy who died at 10 years of hunger and disease. A little fallen king that Kamijo the musician storyteller saves by means of a providential character of musician incarnated by Bethoween. Blood and music save broken childhood ...
We went from the sweet nostalgia of childhood love stories to children in danger, the only orphans and abandoned to a fatal fate. The vampire then becomes a positive character, a savior for these lost children.

As for his music, his influences outside of Paul Mauriat, which he always quotes, are classical music and film music. He has a real passion for film music, that's what seems to stand out in his different words and it comes out in his purely instrumental creations that sound like soundtracks. I read that he quoted Hans Zimmer (Gladiator, Armagedon, Madagascar ...) and John Williams (ET, Star Wars and Indiana Jones among others ...) the influence of Zimmer is very palpable in "Castrato" whose intro evokes the music of the Batman trilogy "The Dark Knight"

An interview ( Noël 2007-forum de la cour de Versailles ) mentions that he appreciates Mylène Farmer as a French artist (she has been known in Japan since “Thus be I”). He also mentioned it in a Tweet. What does not seem surprising as the universe of our flamboyant redhead is rich and let us not forget "Libertine" and "As long as they are sweet" whose clips have an 18th century aesthetic which would not displease Kamijo. Imagine if he had the same means to make a clip of this scale. In addition, the Malice Mizer group that he rubbed shoulders with has this very "Grand Siècle" aesthetic with titles with French words.

Funny thing, in the clip of "Heart" Kamijo has a little Mylène Farmer side when it is in the petals of roses ... it's quite funny !

Going back to Paul Mauriat, this reference, like Richard Clayderman, whom he also quotes, may seem surprising to us. He plays rock, can produce very hard pieces of metal and cites as a reference a variety musician who made himself known by adapting instrumental versions of tubes of the French variety. This musician had a certain international reputation and in Japan more particularly. For the Japanese it is a symbol of French culture like luxury brands. If we listen to the Japanese variety, we can also realize that their musical tastes are very different from ours and that this style of music is undoubtedly not devalued as it can be with us in the terms of "musics of 'elevator ". Let us not forget the French syndrome of intellectual elitism which taxes music and other popular productions which are appreciated by a large audience. I'm not a fan of Mauriat and Clayderman but my time I find the style of music they inspired in Kamijo not bad. I think that neither of them would ever dream of being a reference for a metal composer, even if we can however see this influence in the walks he composes. The musician navigates between the styles and does not care to be classified in only one kind, there is only to listen to the single "mademoiselle" whose all the titles are very different. It goes from metal to variety without problem !

Kamijo in his "true" life

Not that his private life really interests me because it is especially the artist and what he produces that is important to me.
It is however obvious that the little filtering of his private life seems to fascinate the fans. It is true that we know very little about him and his life, although we know more than about other Japanese artists from the Visual world. So I will also try to clear all these more or less true info, because they are also part of the character.
I will try to base myself on the interviews and the translated articles, although I am well aware that these sources are not the most reliable either because the character seems to protect his privacy well and only delivers what he wants, sometimes anything, even blurring the trail ...

In these various interviews where the same questions are often asked (or which are exclusive but copied on others ...) we learn snippets of things about the artist. It reveals simple things and instead of demystifying it makes it more complex.
It emerges from his interviews that he seems to have a keen awareness of his talent or that his ego is quite substantial. So is this a way of bringing the scenic character into existence in real life or a reality of his character .... I don't know.
The fact remains that his favorite musician, apart from Paul Mauriat who appears in all the interviews, is above all himself! "Me" is an answer already quoted!
This egocentric and sufficient side can really put off at first, I felt a real aversion for the character at some point. It is easy to mix the man and the character as things are so closely linked and as the real human being is kept secret by the artist, he talks a lot about himself and in the end we know very little of personal things. Anyway, you have to be aware that all creatives, whether they succeed or not, have a more developed ego than the majority of people. Some hide it under false modesty, others do not hide that they like what they do and what they are like Kamijo. He has at least the merit of openness.

In an old interview for Vicious in March 1999 he confides that he is an incredibly selfish person (and also extremely clumsy in passing) and he explains that he feels that he must be like that and that he likes to wear things (the projects) until the end. In the same answer he also says that he likes his own voice. He defines himself as a clumsy selfish man with a soft voice. I think this is not to be interpreted in the first degree, let's not forget that it is an English translation of an interview in Japanese. He likes to be the center of attention for sure ... He gives a lot of his person on stage but it is by professionalism above all, for the rest many things are monayables, photos, handshakes. .. There are VIP tickets and purchases of goodies to be able to access certain "privileges", my word is the King! And it is also the system of the Visual Kei world that lasts for him.
It seems that it is very widespread in the visual world this mania to cash bonuses and special meetings. That plus the goodies, it must bring in almost more than the sales of records! It is a very particular universe and difficult to grasp for the westerners that we are.
In 2015 he gives an interview for CD Japan (subtitled in English it should be noted as it is rare), it is a pre-order bonus for the DVD of "La Vie en Rose", in this interview he says to be a very demanding person. So yes for a lot of details like the buttons on his costumes, he is demanding but he is able to pass up monumental spelling mistakes and very poorly made photochopages in his pamphlets, or else he checks nothing! Still, he is not the only Japanese artist who finds these kinds of errors, it must be secondary Western spelling for them!
We learn a lot in this interview, including this info on the royal boots, they have been the same for 20 years, he has two pairs and they are repaired regularly, he is at least faithful to his boots we are sure !

What stands out throughout interviews, articles and his career is that it is above all someone who wants it and who knows what he wants. He has worked hard and continues to stay where he is. You have to be very tough to succeed in this kind of environment and to last, especially since he has also been a producer since 1999. When you see the rhythm of concerts, specials, singles releases, mini albums, albums, tours. It's a fairly full schedule that leaves little room for anything else and improvisation. He lives for that. He is present, talked about regularly, social networks like Twitter and Instagram are also an additional tool. Its official Facebook page is only rarely used, even if it seems more updated in 2018.
In early 2016 he updated his Ameba blog, he had not done so since July 2014, and published very little there, things that are not elsewhere, he reused this bias in early 2018 for reveal the chapters of its entire history. He communicates a lot for his promotion, sometimes publishes a photo of what he sees, a selfie ... snatches of things. Twitter remains its favorite means of communication but it uses it relatively little compared to others. There can be whole weeks without tweets or nothing, periods off of which nothing filters.

photos blog Ameba

It started at a time when getting known was more difficult. Today we can make the buzz with a Youtube video in a short time, or thanks to a TV hook. When he started in music it was something else, especially since the Visual world was underground groups, shows in small rooms, a confidential audience ... an existence probably difficult and precarious. When we read the history of the LAREINE group we see that they were all the time on tour, concerts to make themselves known and odd jobs to live.
2015, the year of his 20 years of career, he is still there in Solo and he tours a lot in Japan and abroad too, releases singles, mini albums and album. Many artists who start a solo career do not succeed outside their former group. It started in 2013 and seems to be doing well for the moment. A lot of work still and a fierce will. 2016 starts a new challenge with the renaissance of Versailles and his Solo career which continues in parallel, but it is clear that the renaissance of Versailles does not keep its promises and that he and Hizaki are very turned towards their careers and projects outside Versailles. They celebrated their 10 years in 2017, we make the Budokan, the dream of many groups ... but 2018 was the year of the rebirth of Jupiter after the departure of Zin and that or the solo of Kamijo took a scale much larger given the tours and releases of albums and singles.

Afterwards, we must not forget that the artist is also a character, that it is also above all the character that is put forward. He is the King, and responds as such. On stage, KAMIJO is a monarch vampire and behaves like a monarch, he plays a role. When questioned by journalists he can just as easily speak on behalf of the character, the producer or himself, or all three at the same time! It's a way to let the mystery hang in the air and leave the field open to the imagination of the fans.
Yet he can be very modest when we speak of him as a musical reference or when we compare him to Mana… I also know that it is fashionable in Japan to always show modesty, and it can be to be that too. During a radio interview with Gackt, former singer of Malice Mizer at the time when Kamijo was roadie for the group we see him thanking this artist because he learned a lot with him and his group.

What also stands out, especially in articles reporting a concert, is the artist's professionalism. Even journalists who obviously don't like it (this article has disappeared) recognize it. Small stage, sound problems ... he does the job and gives his all for his audience. Besides that, the fans who have met him all say the same thing: he is an affordable (and adorable) artist who takes the time to greet his fans (most often it is VIP tickets that have the privilege of meet him, or people who bought for a certain amount of goodies) and chat with them.
If I add to this this incredible video of the time of Versailles, during a concert in Moscow where Kamijo falls in the apples during "Ascendead Master", the others continue to play, nothing happens, then Teru comes to see him and people the staff come to give him a drink of water (in a stemmed glass, sorry ...) and he gets up, finishes the song as if nothing had happened ... lack of sleep will tell you he on his blog afterwards. Kamijo's very theatrical stage play explains the reaction time of others ... the fact remains that I have never seen such professionalism. If he is self-centered and aware of his talent, he is also a great professional above all. He will demonstrate it again in 2014 during the tour with Versailles where he will be seated in Spain and Paris because of a sprain due to a fall on the scene in Poland.

Remains a boy very concerned about his image, in the era of selfies we are spoiled because there is no shortage of photos. With or without makeup, often hidden behind his huge tinted glasses, he photographs himself very often, which is a windfall for fans. He always looks for the best angle, even if sometimes some photos do not always show it to his advantage. He also photographs himself a lot behind the scenes with his costume and stage make-up alone or with his musicians. His Twitter account is full of them, other different photos sometimes appear on Instagram. After when we compare to other personalities on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter, I find that he is not photographed so often, in the end. Gackt's Instagram gallery, to take a Japanese musician in the same age group (a year older than the king a priori), is much more provided in pictures, notably of his "chocolate" anatomy ! And I'm not talking about the Nabilla and Rihanna and other K sisters who constantly water these most naked and private photo accounts ... In the end, it is almost not narcissistic ... it remains secret even there.

photos twitter

All his photos do not show much in the end, it is not really his private life that he reveals, just behind the scenes of his shows and his travels we do not know what happens in his bathroom, what does Not everyone's on Instagram, and it's as good as that. Control of his communication there too. Yes finally if we except a video that circulated, it is today difficult to find, only a Tumblr blog still contains it. On this rather short video, posted it seems on Twitter, Kamijo films himself, with the webcam of his macbook. The story goes, (because I have to be content with what is written everywhere since I do not speak Japanese…) that a photo of him with a very bad angle, (or of poor quality I do not know more, in short not flattering at all) appeared on the canvas and therefore it films itself, naturally to show that it is better in real life. Three small captures to see his little face :

his video, deleted from Twitter (but nothing can be deleted on the internet if you are such a little-known…) Well, yes, you will tell me, he deleted this video and I'm putting pictures, I can put the video. No it was withdrawn, I will not put it back. There they are only still images, no sound and it is rather to his advantage above, the feeling is not at all the same ... In short if I speak of this video is that it is also revealing that mysterious. What I say is not an absolute truth but a simple analysis that I make of it. It reveals a real concern for appearance, narcissism is obvious at first glance but also a real concern for the image it conveys, and I see in it a lack of self-confidence, when we really love ourselves we don't care how you are perceived or if there are photos from a bad angle. This opinion is personal and of course only valid if the story told is true. What also stands out is loneliness. He is alone in front of his screen, it is night in view of the lighting but since it is in his studio it can be confusing and he has probably been drinking. We don't know if he comes home from the evening or if he drank alone, but that's how I feel when I see it, it's a great moment of solitude, one of those conducive to this kind of dumpling ... which we regret after posting ...
This is all the more surprising in a person who is in complete control of his image at all times. He is always dressed with taste and a certain elegance when he is in "civil", he always wears jewelry edited by Artemis Classics (whether it is Versailles era or now it is always the accessories of his range, or the range of Versailles, which he wears, if it's not professional to the end of his nails…)

He is very often styled and dressed, sometimes he tries things that are not very happy ... Rare are the photos without sophisticated hairstyle, without any makeup or his huge fly glasses and without his blue lenses. These photos are almost always selfies, pretty little moments of spontaneity and that's where we can see that yes he is Japanese and he has pretty features without makeup !

When he is in an interview, we can clearly see that he is always in the same type of posture, probably looking for the best angle of view for the image he reflects. We can see it as narcissism yes but also a frenzied perfectionism (and may be a lack of self-confidence, like what I perceive from the disappeared video). Although I find it hard to believe that he doesn't trust him (but sometimes too big an ego hides deep flaws).

When he is made up and costumed in the stage character of KAMIJO the vampire, this posture is even more visible. It is quite frozen. It was when I saw a profile photo and the making off of "Moulin Rouge" that I understood why: when he is made up, he then takes on a more Western appearance, his features are completely different, his eyes with their lenses blue and dark makeup no longer look Asian at all. Effect reinforced by the fact that we see only half of the face, the other hidden by the hairstyle. The character of "Vampire Aristocrate Français" is perfect in his illusion, it is even so stunning that it is hard to believe that he is Japanese and some Internet users really doubt, it is fun! On the other hand, in profile, we can see that he is Asian, hence this most flattering angle of view possible so that the character is completely credible. There also professionalism and perfectionism.

Sometimes a picture shows a more facetious facet, like this photo posted on Twitter for Halloween 2015 where he appears dressed in an astonishing Penguin costume, not the most glamorous for the Prince of Vampires (what do I say the King, since his solo are around the theme of "Long live the King!"). There are also stickers and small drawings for very Chibi derivative products in the image of the character which are connected with this less serious side. It can be confusing ... It's very Japanese ...

Kamijo twitter - Stickers Chibi for LINE

In all the interviews, one thing stands out each time, the place in the world where he feels best is the scene ... Maybe this is the key to the mystery. He is an artist above all and the scene is everything for him. He only lives for music and the stage. It shows in all the pictures. It radiates when it is facing the public. In a message for the Fan Club he confides that he does not like too long periods without having a live.
I finally had the chance to see it in real life and it is really very good live, even knocking on a chair forced to sing seated. By watching the lives that are found in abundance on youtube, you will have a very fair idea of ??what is happening on stage. It is obvious that this is where it really is most in its place. He moves, lives and lets go. He also talks a lot to his audience, he smiles, jokes about technical problems (the various concert reports I have read mention this).
No matter the right angle of view for the images, it is more alive than ever on a stage. The character and the artist become one. The beautiful frozen and perfect image of the photos (far too photoshoped sometimes) is far away.

The scenic presence in photo and video is obvious, it gives everything. The lives of the "Holly Grail" tour are particularly eloquent. It was never so radiant and sunny as at that time (photos with the red jacket and video below). He has reached artistic maturity and it shows. He is the King of the visual and plays the monarchs on stage.

You will see in this live (blocked by Warner ... new link to find ...), as in the others, that he talks a lot to the public, he has fun with the other members of the group, moves, dances (with a very particular sense of choreography ...).

His food tastes and disgusts always seem to be of paramount importance in various bios, like his size, his weight, his blood group or the brand of cigarettes he smoked ... We know he likes noodles and pasta , unagi and eel as well as pan-fried fat. He wouldn't like wasabi, garlic, kimchi and olives. We will see here a purely Japanese interest in food. Read Marine Vidal's article on 74 boîtes de Curry to better understand ... After I tasted the unagi, the eel, out of curiosity, Monsieur has good taste it is extremely fine.

For the manga it seems to stand out the following three always cited: "Lupine III", "Detective Conan" and "Versailles no Bara" of course.
He likes to travel by bike and play tennis, a sport that seems to be a real passion, he often says that if he had not been a singer he would have been a tennis player.
He also likes hanging out in cafes (in Japan cafes are not like our bistros, it's more like Starbucks chains), that's what always comes out too, in an interview he says he likes to write his words in cafes or on the terrace of his house.
He travels a lot but knows little about the countries where he has been, the tours are not very conducive to visits according to the dates ... I saw images of the Versailles group at Versailles, so he has already visited the castle , and a photo shoot shows it at St Denis Basilica. He would like to visit Las Vegas one day. When he was young he was in Australia where he spent all his time playing tennis. He also visited Vienna (during the shooting of the video "In Vienna" for the album "Scream")

I also saw blogs where it was said that he had performed cosmetic surgery. My faith seen photos I doubt it, it must be said that his different looks and make-up do not help to navigate there as they change his appearance sometimes. Besides the official photos are very retouched to give a perfect complexion, bordering on the unreal. It sometimes looks like a porcelain doll. Perfect to install more of the immortal Vampire character ... Not to mention the countless tricks which Asians have the secret to enlarge their eyes and debride their eyes with stickers, glue added to the stage makeup intended to reinforce this so special effect. You never really see your face 100% natural without these devices and the various looks and make-ups more or less transform your original face and always in a different way.

It is only recently that we are entitled to more natural "natural" photos. If his face has changed it is more by a slight weight gain (and also maturity) since at his beginnings he was extremely thin, even skinny at certain times. He stopped drawing eyebrows too, the line is more natural and less shaved, it changes a face too. Today her face is rounder and her silhouette more fleshy. By looking at the pictures and videos of the first era of LAREINE then of the second we can just notice that he undoubtedly had his teeth redone, which allows us today to have images of a smiling Kamijo a lot when it is on sale, with fans or at events. A very cute smile by the way (there I do my cute / kawaii yes I admit) ...

photos : Instagram - Facebook Kamijo France et Google images

Through my various researches, I could see that the question of his sexual orientation often came up in fan discussions. The ambiguity of the stage character is not for nothing. I also read aberrant things like "he's too classy to be gay" Freddie Mercury was class and manhood embodied and he was sailing and steaming ... Each fan sees him through the prism of his own desire and his own sexuality ... Rumors run and are savored among fans like episodes of "Fires of Love". The Internet is a ruthless universe ...
The reality remains a mystery and it concerns him it is his private life. The unspoken allows any admirer to project themselves and be in love with the revered idol. It doesn't change the artistic production that I know of. I am not one of those who fantasize about the charming man, one less in the race therefore!

It is the same principle as the french 70' singer Claude François who hid his second son so as not to have the image of a father, a child spends two that makes you papoune !

There remains a real ambiguity of the character, a little less since Versailles than at the time of LAREINE where the costumes and attitudes were much more feminine, before the era of the Lestat-style Vampire. Although photo shoots for magazines, calendars or photo sets show it in an extremely feminine and sometimes disturbing light. Not to mention a cover of the magazine of the fan club Rose Croix which shows us a Kamijo more "blonde" than ever!

Lady Oscar n'est pas très loin il aurait été un cosplay parfait !

The character of the scenic character is more masculine without releasing a very clear virility, he is a refined and decadent aristocrat anyway! The men of the 18th century made up and were sometimes just as ornate, if not more, than women ... Masculinity differs according to the times!
Not to mention this Halloween evening Tokyo Decadence where he kisses singer Kaya on the mouth (on the ultra feminine stage character on the other hand ...) on stage only blurs the tracks (or not…)

pour voir la vidéo, cliquez sur la photo

We are back in the world of Visual masks…

To conclude, the character is mysterious, exasperating and fascinating at the same time, an egocentric charmer with a devastating smile. He challenges and does not leave indifferent. No doubt I am completely beside the truth in the analysis that I make of him, it is only a subjective interpretation but this article made me discover an atypical character and an exciting career, I wanted to go further by detailing everything for once.
The character is multifaceted and I haven't finished going around it. The more I read the more I document myself and the more obscure it is sometimes. I just believe that nobody really knows the truth except himself. He says he likes puzzles like in Detective Conan and sows them in his songs ... I especially think he sows them everywhere else!
This man is a labyrinth, let's say that ... (or a Rubiks Cube, it's so difficult to navigate)

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