Finally the official preview for one of the Jrock community’s most-anticipated releases, the Hollywood debut of Japanese media’s HRH GACKT: Guy Moshe’s Bunraku. I live in envy of everyone who had the opportunity to see the premier at the INTL film festival in Toronto last year, where GACKT was in kimono’ed attendance.
All in all the movie looks pretty sweet. The catch-lines weren’t bad, although it was something of a pointless trailer given that GACKT had no lines. We’ve all seen him in acting roles by now (Moon Child, Furinkazan, etc), but it will be interesting to see him surrounded by whities, acting in a “Hollywood” production, all up in the mainstream and everything. You go, GACKT.
Bunraku is destined for release on Sept 1st (VOD), and September 30th (theatrical release). I hope it’s shown nationally.
A mysterious drifter (Josh Hartnett) and an ardent young Japanese warrior Yoshi (Gackt) both arrive in a town that has been terrorized by outrageous and virulent criminals. Each is obsessed with his separate mission, and guided by the wisdom of The Bartender (Woody Harrelson) at the Horseless Horseman Saloon, the two eventually join forces to bring down the corrupt and contemptuous reign of Nicola (Ron Perlman), the awesomely evil “woodcutter” and his lady Alexandra (Demi Moore), a femme fatale with a secret past. This classic tale is re-vitalized and re-imagined in an entirely fresh visual context, set in a unique world that mixes skewed reality with shadow-play fantasy, a place where even the landscape can betray you. Heroes triumph here only because the force of their will transforms and transcends both space and time. The world of BUNRAKU is past and present, fantasy and reality, Samurai and Western all combined. Like SIN CITY and 300, it gives classic conflict a whole new graphically supercharged dynamic. Resonating through a wide range of cultures and showcasing a mind-blowing array of martial arts disciplines, BUNRAKU is a fresh arena for breathtaking fight action.
*Synopsis taken from the video info.
According to the announcement on GACKT’s official FB as well as the YFCz OHP, GACKT’s grungy side-project is really getting crispy this summer. Not only did GACKT step up his international activities with a considerably more substantial European tour this summer, but he stated another interesting release to put on the list right under Disney x Visual Kei for September: On the 14th, the first-ever official YELLOW FRIED CHICKENz single is destined to drop.
I’ve been stewing over this for some time now. I can’t take it anymore, I gotta get it off my chest. In anticipation of his upcoming YFCz European tour (extended and expanded version), GACKT switched up the ol’ tried-and-true approach of actually looking cool, and decided to go out on a limb with his newest makeover. His stylist must’ve felt bad for all the countries that haven’t gotten a GACKT tour yet, and decided to help console us by giving GACKT such a ridiculously WTF-worthy hairstyle that we would close out the tour schedule tabs on our browsers, going “grumblegrumbleGACKTwtfyourghettohairgrumblegrumble”, content to wait until a better makeover before we lament not being able to see him live. ¹
…Which further proves my point that the Regular edition cover art is always superior. I don’t care if it is the OP to some new anime or game, to me it just doesn’t have the feel of a GACKT single. It also reminds me of those vocaloid monsters in which I have absolutely .0 interest.
Last year’s big, exciting Jrock moment, as many of you probably still remember, was the “international”- aka European- debut of GACKT Sanders’ YELLOW FRIED CHICKENz project. The tour, a short, experimental stint with a few scattered dates in a select few countries, sold out in a record 4 minutes of tickets being released. After this information reached the Colonel, he expressed a sense of regret that so many fans had wanted to see him perform, but were unable to because of the limited number of dates, locations, and the haste with which tickets sold.
I vaguely remember the Internet exploding with stoked-ness last time this happened. For all the people who were able to attend GACKT’s shows in Europe, it was a life-changing event (in some way or another, at least), and for those of us sitting around at home or work depressed, checking their watches, thinking “I suppose GACKT’s on stage right about now…”, it was an iconic moment of blinding hope: GACKT was going international. Legit international. Kind of. Which, for the rest of the world, meant there was hope for us to.
