Back in the early stages of the internet when it came to downloading and finding music at a listenable quality was very rare, I had my first taste of Japanese music through a friend. I had gotten my first MP3 player for Christmas somewhere around the time of 2005 and had no way to add music to it, nor did I know how. My friend Riyo, who was also a new student to the school, was tech-savvy and had a computer capable of adding music to an MP3 Player. She had no idea what sort of music I was into that was in her library so she just gave me anything and everything that she had. I'll never forget the two songs that started my love for the Japanese Pop genre. While I do not like them anymore, they were my gateway to J-pop. "Invoke" and "Ignite" by TM Revolution were my first two songs ever listened on repeat. Both were Gundam Seed opening songs (Gundam SEED and Gundam SEED Destiny respectively). Also, I would like to point out that I have never seen any of the Gundam series.
Quickly after that my sister made me watch my first anime that was not Pokemon, Sailor Moon, or Dragon Ball. While it was not a new series at the time, it was the first time we were both seeing it. D・N・Angel was my first "real" anime as I call it, and the opening theme was something that just hit different for me "White Light ~ True Light" (Translated) by Shunichi Miyamoto who sang the song. (He also voiced a character in Mobile Suit Gundam SEED, however, those where his only two real big moments in the spotlight.)
It was after D・N・Angel that I had become more attentive to Japanese music and actually looked for it in the things I consumed daily. When a new game came out that was a spin-off of a game that I already loved, I had to buy it. In 2006, Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII came out and I just had to play it because it starred my favourite FFVII character.
The scene leading up to the Final battle, Omega Weiss (Spoiler) was timed to a song called "Longing." The closing credits were to a song called "Redemption" and both were by a singer who I have never heard of before. GACKT was at the time, a long time singer with various genres under his belt already. By the time of Dirge or Cerberus, he had settled on a silver lining between J-pop and J-rock. Lyrical meaning of J-pop, with the heavier sound and emotion of J-rock.
Quickly after finishing Dirge of Cerberus, I needed to find other music from this person named GACKT and what else he has played before. In 2007, GACKT played a character named Genesis in Final Fantasy 7: Crisis Core. However, for some unknown reason, Genesis did not appear in the North American, Australian, or the European edition of the game.
Around late 2006 early 2007, my oldest sister finally purchased her first computer and it was a powerful beast at the time. I took advantage of this and downloaded all of the Japanese music I could think of, heard of, find, and actually download without purchasing (I was poor at the time). GACKT became the majority of my playlist with some game soundtracks, random anime themes, and the remnants of Western music I listened to, sprinkled in there. Looking into the early stages of YouTube for any TV appearances or any snippet of this newly found musical obsession of mine, I found a slightly newer (a few weeks or so old) video of him promoting his new song "Returner," which was for a TV drama called "Disambiguation" which starred GACKT as well. This song also was an announcement for the debut of a band that was in talks about for years. The group was a USA-based Visual Kei band starring huge names to the Visual Kei movement. GACKT, Sugizo, Miyavi, and Yoshiki were the founding members. This tied back my sister knowing who Yoshiki was, as she was a huge X-Japan fan.
The video that I found where GACKT was promoting his new song was a show called Domoto Brothers, of which GACKT was a regular for a couple of years.
The clip that I saw of Domoto Brothers was very funny and they hosts were cute because of how well their personalities clashed. They were constantly bickering or teasing on another during the show and needed a reminder at least twice during the fifteen-minute long clip that they were on a schedule. Given that I was used to GACKT's serious persona in the public eye, this light-hearted play and bickering was a fun change. I looked into who the hosts were by looking up which shows GACKT frequented and found out the hosts were named Domoto Koichi and Domoto Tsuyoshi, also known as the Domoto Brothers. They were seniors in a company called Johnny's and Associates. They were the fourth instalment of the official company, but sixth group of the founder's boy bands.
I loved the KinKi Kids personalities on the TV show and needed to look into their music. Since debuting in 1997 their songs were always happy and cheerful. I was in the depths of my darkest years of high school around this time and I think I needed that happiness in the form of music. Here is a clip of JUMP members singing a KinKi Kids song. While, GACKT fit my emotions better, it was not helping my mental state. KinKi Kids actually made me forget that when I'd go back to school the next day, it'd be hell.
Fun fact: KinKi Kids hold the Guinness World Record for most consecutive singles to reach No.1, which is now at 42.
In mid 2007 after following along with someone who uploaded the Domoto Brothers episodes, I saw an episode of a new younger group from the same company that was going to be debuting later that year. The "baby" group Hey! Say! JUMP was a large group of rowdy teenage boys that had a hard time containing their energy on stage. Ranging from 12-17, the group had fun on the set with their seniors that most of them previously back-danced for in concerts and live performances. While they would still be below the KinKi Kids, they would finally be equals as debuted groups.
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