Gacktastic Vid of The Day - RETURNER

[karadin.livejournal.com]

Not only one of the most cinematic, and for its type, beautiful videos of recent years - GACKT as Sengoku era (1500-1600) warrior, and the same character as Shinigami - or Death God, returning to the place of his defeat.

*note, the costumes for this video were used in the film 'Heaven and Earth' about the warlord Uesugi Kenshin. Most of the budget was used on costumes. The video was shot in one 28 hour period in Nagano Japan, and professional stunt-warriors were used. Though Gackt was in production with the NHK taiga drama 'Fuurin Kazan' at the time, they had no involvement with this video.
(english subbed)

Comments

[wongkk.livejournal.com]

This MV is very special for me: it was the first Gackt disc I ever owned - bought it in Hong Kong in a cramped and grubby secondhand disc shop (where I was rummaging for Cantonese films) and then played it on the laptop in my hotel room whilst eating a huge muk gwa (papaya - maybe you call it something else)!

I didn't have subtitles and made up my own story for a poem called "Returner" which I pasted against a still from the MV. Can't cram it into the 400 pixel width here but I'll email it to you in case you're interested

This song and the other secondhand disc I bought with it (the Kimi no tame ni dekiru and CubeEP) made me realize that Gackt wasn't just a Sanzo-lookalike (Sanzo = character from the Saiyuki manga) but had real musical talent and original ideas. The song has a wonderful quality of adventure and noble failure which (cos I knew nothing of Kenshin or Gackt's Kenshin role at the time) I didn't understand but liked very much. This atmosphere was what I tried to capture in the narrative of the poem.

Thanks for posting this and bringing back the excitement of discovering Gackt for the first time!

[tanfouk.livejournal.com]

It makes me crazy that we never get a really clear look at the details of the Shinigami costume.

[karadin.livejournal.com]

Yeah, when this vid was released I had to play pause ad nauseum to draw that costume, and it when came time to do the Gackt Doll, I was going to try it, - urgh, the tatters, and the all black ... Genesis costume was bad enough.

[gothicdragon752.livejournal.com]

My favourite PV... Although I hear the making of it was close to hell itself..

[lilyginnyblack.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much for posting and sharing this! Gods, the combination of the lyrics and the video was so overwhelming, such a beautiful (in a tragic way) and emotional song.

[undomiel-48.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much for sharing this. This particular video has a special place in my heart - maybe because it is the second video of Gackt I ever saw (Redemption being the first).

The sheer monumental quality and the costumes leave me speechless everytime, as does the emotions that are conveyed both by the images and the song. Especially when Gackt moves into the higher voice register during the refrain I always feel shivers running down my spine. That man's voice is simply beyond words.

Also, I think the only other video that could even remotely compare to this in cinematic quality is Nightwish's Sleeping Sun, but as much as I liked that song and video .... compared to Gackt's acting capabilities even in this short clip and the passion and warmth he can communicate with his voice, Sleeping Sun seems kinda....wooden and cold.

I also really love his looks here - long hair definitely looks great on him! And I am not sure if he wears his contacts in this clip (have to find a better quality version), but in 'Fuurin Kazan' he definitely doesn't, and as great as the contacts look - I REALLY adore his natural eye colour. That warm, deep, almost black chocolate-brown has a certain depth and quality to it that makes it very special and very, very sexy.

But that's just me :)