Klaha Links


(the best unofficial site in English)

Darkness For Klaha
(for those who prefer his darker side)
(Japanese language site)

Malice Mizer Links with a Focus on Klaha

Malice Mizer Gensou Rakuen
(Japanese-language site with current updates of Klaha info)
Malice Aftermath @ Yahoo! Groups


Pride of Mind Links
Out of the Air
(a really nice complete fansite)


Places To Buy Klaha Merchandise


HMV Japan
Third Stage
GURUGURU
(carries used CDs occasionally)
The official Cryptogram site also sells merchandise only within Japan (although this appears to be changing soon)

Email the Blog Admin

Merry Christmas! -- Wednesday, December 24, 2003, 07:21 p.m.
Well, as I write this, it's already Christmas morning in Japan. I hope Klaha is having a wonderful Christmas, and that he knows how lucky he is to be spending it with both Chopin and Atra. The folks in his fan club got their cards yesterday and were marvelling online about how they got there right on Christmas Eve.

I've been meaning to point out this fanart page for a while. I'm guessing the first is from the Klaha/Yuki interview (Klaha has a cute little basket of rolls on his lap ^.^). The last on the list is also really nice. Wow. O.O I bet Klaha would look great dressed in traditional wafuku like that, but I doubt we could ever pursuade him to try it. :sigh:

Anyway, I know it's not from Klaha, but this is my holiday card for everyone this year:

Translation of the 12/2002 Zappy Interview -- Sunday, December 21, 2003, 08:33 p.m.
Well, I should have finished this a while ago. I was held at bay from finishing by about 4 kanji that I couldn't make any sense of, but I finally either guessed correctly or otherwise tried to make sense of them, because I wanted to finish this and move on. ^.^;

Highlights from the interview:

• Klaha considers Nostal Lab his Zero-th work (is "zero-th" a word? ^.^;).
• Klaha came up with the stuff for this album the whole time he was with Malice Mizer (which pretty much flies in the face of this being a sudden move to mimic Gackt's success, don't you think? 6.6).
• Klaha sees this stuff as being leftovers, or "dross" of his creative process (which is kinda sad in a way; I thought some of them were pretty good and hate to think of them as trash ;.;).

Minor News and a Question -- Saturday, December 20, 2003, 10:32 p.m.
Aion sent me an email the other day in response to my translation (which, BTW, I made a minor update to today because I realized I had mistranslated something). She mentioned that she's had major problems with the database, etc. for Klaha.net, so if you've also had problems accessing lately like I have all along (I know that some people were still able to access all this time), that's why. Sounds like a major job repairing, so let's all be patient and not pummel her with emails asking what happened. :looks guilty: :lol:

I was reading a Japanese BBS the other day (no, not Klaha Syndrome this time, another), and according to the folks there, Klaha's been busy lately in the member section of Cryptogram answering a whole ton of questions he requested for people to send him a while back. Man, what I would do to see them!! 6.6!

Okay, so I know we can't, but here's a question I have for you: If you could ask Klaha a question(s) about anything, what would it be? I want to get some people's responses on this (my email is a little lower on the left), even if I know I probably can't answer them myself, and I'd be glad to make a post here (or refrain from doing so if you ask me to) of what they are. Maybe we can figure out some way to get our questionnaire to Klaha in the future.

Translation of Klaha's Message in the Black Bible -- Thursday, December 18, 2003, 03:38 p.m.
Aion sent me a scan from the Malice Mizer Black Bible some weeks ago, and I really should have done the translation sooner because it's easy, but I've been going non-stop since this weekend. :tired: Luckily, (yes, I'm saying "luckily" for once 6.6) it's been very quiet on the homefront with Klaha. If he was as buisy as Gackt and Ayu have been lately, I'd never have been able to keep up.

The place we photographed "Aa, Mujou"* is becoming in my mind a memory that the smiles will never fade from. Unlike the anxiety of the usual photography sessions, it was perhaps the one time in 3 months that a somehow relaxing air wafted through the place. Each time we could see each members new look, firsthand, we also knew the words of surprise we had not exchanged before. Then, to those who have been awaiting this series, to all the staff, and everyone else, I offer my feelings of gratitude, and from now on, just like "Aa, Mujou", I want to always continue to seek out a new self. - Klaha

[*Mujou = Heartless or ruthless; here, it's the title of whatever article the photos appeared in]

That last part was kind of interesting how prophetic it seems. He certainly does seem to be constantly seeking a new self. Keep doing your best, Klaha!

Klaha Syndrome -- Thursday, December 11, 2003, 06:19 p.m.
I've been debating for a while if I should add this page to my links because it's in Japanese, not English, but then again I have Gensou Rakuen listed, so maybe I should. ^.^; It's been a while since I visited the BBS at Klaha Syndrome, but I guess I should do so more often. A number of the folks who post here are members of his fan club, so I can sometimes get hints of what's going on "behind the curtain".

Lately there's been a dicussion about who's preordering Setsubou. Looks like half of them are ordering 2 copies to get the photocards, the other half aren't so keen, but everyone was fretting about whether they would get their order processed in time since there were only 1,000 availiable (:sigh: I guess we're out of luck -.-).

Someone there also pointed out that Setsubou's release date also happens to be Atra's birthday. :facepalms: Forget what I said earlier; the man :is: that attached to his cats. It would be funny if there was a hidden bonus with him singing "Happy Birthday" to Atra somewhere on it. =^.^=

It was difficult reading everyone's comments pining for another Klaha live and how they really wanted to meet him again. :deeper sigh: Fine, you should consider yourself lucky that you can go to his lives and join his fan club in the first place, not complain about wanting more. :cries: Ah, if we all could be Klaha fans living in Japan, ne? :9.9:

The latest thread was talking about a game someone created starring Klaha. I tried it a bit, but it was in Japanese, and it was difficult reading the intro credits fast enough, so I decided to leave it until I have more time. :shrug: Well, it's interesting to think that Klaha has his own game now. :hee:

Strange Dreams -- Monday, December 8, 2003, 01:31 p.m.
Talk about wishful thinking. Last night I had a dream that Cryptogram had the info up for overseas orders. It was a long multi-part message with different instructions depending on what country code was prefixed to your phone number. And they had a seperate English order page up with the same instructions, plus additional instructions if you wanted to buy other items from the Cryptogram website. I even dreamed about starting to post an entry here about it. Oy. *-.-*

Watching last week's Utaban last night got me thinking about what sort of promotional appearances Klaha might be thinking about for this new mini-album. The fact that it's a direct mail-order item makes you wonder if he's deciding (?? ^.^;;) to leave the mainstream circuit and all its crazy antics (three words: Tetsu and Tomo ^.~ actually, I really like them, but I'm not sure if appearing with them is his style), even at the cost of not getting as much exposure. Hey, it wouldn't be the first time it's happened.

I've been collecting a list of all his appearances so far, and I noticed there wasn't any magazine or TV coverage of the Maerchen DVD/video (not that I was expecting it for a video, but...). Of course, this is all my own conjecture, so forgive me for sharing it should it cause anyone worry. ^.^;; The truth is, if there are any interviews/blurbs about it, we probably won't hear anything until it is closer to the actual release date, say maybe sometime in January. I'll keep my eyes peeled....

Sazae-san Goes Psychodelic -- Sunday, December 7, 2003, 08:08 p.m.
Er, okay, so you'll have to follow the link in the title to understand what I mean. I also found a page that was titled "Sazae-san VS. Doraemon", but when I followed the link, it was 404. Too bad, that sounded interesting. ^.^

I got my Sazae-san book a couple days ago. :yay: I've read perhaps a fourth of it now (I've been too buisy to sit down properly with it). I think the humor style is a bit more like Blondie than Peanuts, really, but it is enjoyable. However, I'm not sure how much it would appeal to someone who's not into comic strips or learning details about everyday life in Japan in the 50's (I personally like both).

It's a weird feeling to be sitting down and looking for the first time at something Klaha has been familiar with since he was a child. Sazae-san herself is to me a kind of a cross between Nancy and Olive Oyl. Gosh, brings back all sorts of memories of my grandfather and I reading the comics when I was young and going to the library to check out Peanuts books. Well, if "nostalgia" is Klaha's thing now, he's certainly good at it. :M.M:

By the way, I've mentioned it elsewhere already, but sorry to folks about not having my Klaha stuff on WinMX the past two weeks. I'm still doing a serious rearrangement of the Hdd, but the promotional stuff like interviews are back. Oh, and I should note I only share promo stuff and out of print stuff (I really need to put the PoM files up again too), so if you want MP3s, PVs, etc., er well, they're out there somewhere else if you look. Sorry. ^.^;;

Not a word out of Cryptogram yet, and I still can't access Klaha.net. Ah, well, things are almost back to normal, at least. :sigh:

01/2003 Music Transfer Interview Translation -- Thursday, December 4, 2003, 05:17 p.m.
Well, looks like I'll be making two entries today. ^.^ The link to the translation is in this entry title.

This was pleasantly easier than the 2 translations I've done so far. I'm not sure if it was just easier or I'm getting better at it. ^.^ I was able to understand everything except for a sentence where the announcer mentions "Genju-san" (Kanji: 幻鷲さん). I did a Google search for the kanji and came up with this link to a Japanese Malice Mizer fansite, Fushigi na Mori, which has even more Klaha radio interviews from the Malice era (:blinks: :sighs: I'm never going to get this done -.-;), but no explainations about Genju-san. If you have any info...

Anyway, synopsis of what we learn in this interview:

• Klaha can't stand bugs (especially cockroaches)
• The name Nostal Lab stands for "Nostalgic Laboratory" (which I've always suspected, but didn't want to look silly by saying it until now ^.^;)
• Klaha wants us to listen to his album with an image of a spinning prism in our minds.
• Sometimes it is possible for a radio announcer doing palm reading to give you good advice (although you should otherwise not believe a word they say).
• Klaha is not afraid of making weird animal noises on the radio (I nearly fell out of my chair over this part :laughs again:).
• Klaha likes doing erotic lives (but only if they're morally decent *^.^*) :fans self at the thought of hearing Klaha pronouncing the word "erotic":

Things I've Noticed Recently -- Thursday, December 4, 2003, 12:48 p.m.
I'm starting to understand in a way how Klaha would feel if we were to tell him that we were afraid he had dissapeared after this summer. It's been almost a week since I've posted a blog entry, and I've been thinking if I didn't post something soon, it might seem I've dissapeared, but I've actually been very buisy in the background!

And not just with my everyday life. I've been searching the net for answers to the questions that I've been wondering about for a while, as well as the more common questions I've heard other people ask, to put together a Klaha FAQ/trivia file. In addition, I'm very close to finishing the Dec. Music Transfer/Zappy interviews (I'm having serious trouble with 3 kanji on the latter so that may take a bit unless I ask for a better scan after all :sigh:). And I wrote up (first in English, then translated to Japanese) a big fan letter to Klaha I'm going to send with pictures of my sculpture inspired by scape ~with invisible wings~, that I've just about finished sculpting (now I need to let it dry, make a mold, cast it, add the attachments, and paint it :whew:).

Various news:
GURUGURU has, last time I checked, a used copy of the limited edition of Nostal Lab availiable if anyone is interested. The limited edition was sold out in stores when I went to buy it, but I don't have the money right now and I've already got the regular one, so I thought I'd pass good karma on to someone else looking for it.

I just noticed the other day while I was digging around on Cryptogram for info that the Maerchen DVD/video isn't being sold from the site. Drat it. I was going to ask if I could order it along with my copy of Setsubou to show them we're interested in buying more stuff and to save on shipping, but if they don't have it, I'll have to spend the extra shipping for HMV after all.

Aion from Klaha.net and I were talking about the Klaha/Yu~ki interview a while back and she said something interesting enough I asked to quote her about it: "I can see how it might be frustrating to be a serious musician on stage next to Mana prancing about not touching a guitar.."

I thought she had a point here. :LOL: The visuals are nice, but I can see how they could be carried too far if you are interested in being serious about music. Of course, Klaha also says that wasn't his main reason, but if he takes the time to mention it, I'm sure it was important to him.

Kinda off-topic, but since Klaha has been called the David Bowie of Japan: I was in Circuit City last Friday and I noticed that David Bowie put out a new album this year. :surprise: Call me out of touch, but I didn't know he was still doing music. To be honest, I don't think I've really heard any of his music outside of Labyrinth. Guess I should eventually.

Also somewhat off-topic, but I saw the Charlie Brown Christmas special this week. I've been watching this same show every year since I was a kid, and I still love it (although I still wonder where all that extra foliage came from at the end when they decorate the tree :^.^:). Anyway, I was wondering what Klaha would think if he saw it (or if he has seen it yet. Peanuts is published in Japan and has its own official fansite there).

I'll try not to be a stranger, but the holidays and my portfolio deadline are coming up, so we'll have to see. ^.^

Edit: Sazae-san from Fujisan.com -- Saturday, November 29, 2003, 03:26 p.m.
Apparently Fujisan.com doesn't like linking directly to a search, so here are direct links to each of the Japanese site volumes, for your convenience: Vol. 1 Vol. 2 Vol. 3 Vol. 4 Vol. 5 Vol. 6 Vol. 7 Vol. 8

To put it in the cart, click the button that looks like a shopping cart (duh *.*), then you can switch to English to finish the order. Not that I'm expecting anyone to go out and buy all 8 volumes because Klaha likes them, but hey, you might just buy one and decide you like the strip of its own merit.... ^.~;

Sazae-san Stuff -- Saturday, November 29, 2003, 02:40 p.m.
Hey, guys! Hope everyone is having a nice holiday weekend. :^.^: Thursday night I was bored and too stuffed with food to do anything serious, so I watched the TVK Music Chat video, trying to understand more of what was being said. I believe now I was right about the comments the interviewer made about Klaha's cats. He was discussing them turning on the TV and watching the interview from home instead. :giggle:

I also paid better attention to the part about Sazae-san. Apparently Klaha really does like the anime and has done so since he was a child. So I decided to hunt around some more for info about watching the anime or reading the comic strips (the show was originally a comic strip in the Asahi Shimbun some time ago; thus my reference to Peanuts).

If you'd really like to read Sazae-san for yourself, Amazon.com has Vol. 1 and Vol. 4 translated into English with cultural notes (the original Japanese is also still printed below the strip, so if you're a Japanese student like me, it sounds like a good practice tool). I found a used copy of Vol. 1 at a good price on Thursday night, so I went ahead and bought it (it should be here next week :excitement: It's only vaguely Klaha-related, but it should tide me over until I can get my hands on the new mini-album or the Marchen single I'm finally going to order next month).

I did a look around Fujisan.com, and they also carry Vol. 1-8 in the dual-language format. Unfortunately, when I did a search on the English version of the site, I could only get Vol. 10-12 to come up there (why those are there and not on the Japanese-language page, I have no idea O.o). However, the shipping is much better from there than Amazon.co.jp (which carries a random selection of translated volumes and the site is truely only accessible in Japanese, no matter what they say).

If you really want to go through the trouble, you can install Japanese language support by following these instructions, then visit the page, go to page 2, and look for the items in the catalog that look like this: 対訳サザエさん.

Fujisan.com also has a video tape of the anime on both the Japanese and English-language site (it's at the very bottom of the list), but it has no information about how many episodes and which ones are on the tape, and unless I know, I'm not going to bother with buying it (I would prefer a DVD if I was at any rate).

Hope this is helpful to someone. I'll let you know more about how it is when my book arrives next week. =^.^=

Translation of the Old klahainfo.com Messages -- Tuesday, November 25, 2003, 09:35 p.m.
Whew. Once again, it's not completely finished, but it's as close as I can get it barring some special help. If you have any suggestions or questions, I'm always here. ^.^;

A synopsis of what we learn from these messages:

• Klaha reveals his secret love affair with: singing (I could have translated part of what he was saying in a rather scary way, but I chose not to ^.^;).
• Never wait around at a restaurant for Kozi if you're really hungry.
• Klaha is one of those people who likes to argue about their cats being the cutest (which is silly, because mine are =^.^=).
• Not only do some people think that hat from Private Eyes Vol. 2 is ugly, but people in Japan think that Klaha cut his hair short because of it.
• People in Japan also think Chameleon no Seppun is the best song on Nostal Lab (and they're probably right).
• Hearing that Klaha wants to cry makes me want to cry. ;.;

Translator's Comments on the Klaha/Yu~ki Interview -- Sunday, November 23, 2003, 02:30 p.m.
First of all, before I bring upon myself anyone's flames, I should remind you that these are my personal impressions of the interview, and my opinions are mine; I reserve the right to be wrong based on lack of information or whatever. ^.^;;;; <-is looking really nervous here

I should mention first that my introduction to Klaha was through Scape ~with transparent wings~, and I had already listened to and decided to buy Nostal Lab before I heard any of the Malice Mizer/PoM era songs, so I don't have quite the bias of thinking of "the Malice-era Klaha as the original" as I know some folks do. I think that the music and his singing from that time period is definitely the best, and I would really like to hear more of him singing in an opera/theatrical style, because I think it suits his voice much better than pop music. I also really like the Visuals and I haven't been shy about doing my own Beast of Blood cosplay.

That said, I think that my opinions about what he should or shouldn't be doing with his music have mellowed out a bit since I started working on this. And after skimming through some of the articles Amasanin sent me to work on, it seems he's trying very hard everywhere to convince people to give him a chance to do something different that he enjoys. I still would like to hear more of the older music (I enjoy PoM, and would like to hear more of that too), but I'm going to try to be patient now and see what he does without any prejudices.

As I've said before elsewhere, in Nostal Lab he showed these unique sparks of creativity, even though the quality of the music and singing wasn't always as good as it could have been, and I bought the album because I think of him as a diamond in the rough and wish to support him as long as he's trying hard to make better music and be creative. My other desire is to hear more of the World Fusion-type stuff he continued to experiment with on Marchen, but that's ultimately something I'll leave up to him. I hope he can make it big doing what he enjoys; I'd hate to think he was forced to do something other people liked at the expense of him being miserable to survive as an artist.

Going back to the interview, I'll mention what other people have said, and I myself got the impression of: that this is a much deeper and more interesting conversation than most of the Japanese interviews I've read. I normally expect Japanese artists to talk about their favorite color or what they like to cook, but he comes across here at least as intelligent, if not as deeply philosophical as he describes Yu~ki. ^.^; He also seems much more relaxed and eager to talk than the TVK Music Chat video, where he looked very stiff and awkward through much of the interview. I suspect that much of the "seriousness" and "stuffiness" people characterize him with is just a bit of reserve and shyness when it comes to talking with strangers.

There were also some very amusing parts. I thought the part about the compass was pretty funny. "Then I took a map of the world and said to myself, 'I wonder which part of this house is closest to New York....'" And his comment about people eating bread in restaurants had a ring of truth to it. ^.^ Too bad he doesn't do this more often; one of the reasons Gackt is such a big personality is that people love his jokes in interviews, but then he shouldn't have to if it's not being himself. In fact, I hope the time comes someday that even I'm not tempted to compare him to Gackt. ^.^;;

As I mentioned in a previous entry, from what little I've seen, there seems to be a bit of a running joke about him liking Sazae-san in Japan. The problem is, short of giving people a link to a synopsis of the anime, I'm hard-pressed within the constraints of the translation to give people an impression of how it comes across to me what he's saying. I guess the closest I can come is, "We like to get together and discuss Peanuts and Charlie Brown." It's something most people take for granted, so it's a bit amusing that they would make a dicussion out of it every week. Now I'm curious to see if I can find any more material where he is chatting with his friend, because I would like to hear some of what they have to talk about. ^.^

Another thing I want to point out briefly was that this thing ran for about 7 pages, and there's still no mention of his cats. I suspect the joke about his fondness for his cats gets overblown a bit in English-speaking circles, simply because it's about the only personal thing we know about him. It's true it's still a bit of a theme in comments from Japanese-speaking fans I've read, and he obviously does like his cats (he mentions them on his website as his favorite things and lists them in his acknowledgements for Nostal Lab). However, I'm tempted to say let's not take the cat thing too seriously. ^.^;

I'm still looking for other people's impressions about the interview and hope that we can learn more with the other articles I now have entrusted to me to translate. As usual, if you have anything to say or any material of interest, I'll gladly listen if you contact me. ^.^

A Poem Translation -- Thursday, November 20, 2003, 06:24 p.m.
Well, preordering for Setsubou has already begun. The thought goes through my head that if I lived in Japan I would have sent off my request this morning. I wonder how fast the first 1000 are going. ^.^; Eh, not a big deal....

Anyway, the fan page that I regularly visit has a short poem at the bottom, and every time I see it, I can't help but admire the beauty of the words. It references, in some way, at least 3 of the songs from Nostal Lab, and I wish I knew if it was from the limited edition version of the album (I have the regular version), or perhaps somewhere on the Cryptogram website, or if it is fan-created.

kono hi, boku-tachi no kokoro ga hitotsu ni naru shunkan saigo no PURISUMU ga kagayaki wo hanatsu darou kaihou* no yorokobi to tomo ni boku-tachi no tsubasa ga awaku iro-zuku kizashi ga sono kuukan ni otozureru kanarazu aou shin no hajimari ga matte iru kara boku wa nan de mo yobi-kakeru. anata no kokoro wo ubai-saru made

On this day, in the moment that our hearts become as one The final prism will radiate its sparkling light With the joy of our freedom* in that place in the air, our wings will be tinged lightly with a hint of color Let us eventually meet The true beginning is waiting, so I call out to you over and over. Until I sweep your heart away...

[*The kanji used for this word are the ones for "report" or "bulletin", but it looks more like a typo (a pun, maybe?) because it sounds the same as the word for "freedom"]

Mini-Update (I Finished Translating the Image) -- Wednesday, November 19, 2003, 12:10 a.m.
It reads:

It's been one year since the release of his previous work, Marchen. Carrying the theme "Destination of the Soul," Klaha, after discovering a new outlook, is scheduled to release his third work, his first ever Mini-Album!"

There you go. Sounds deep. ^.^ I'm not totally sure what it means by "discovering a new outlook" (it could just be advertising retoric), but please don't go assuming on me that this is his "return to darkness" after all. ^.^; My personal feeling is that the event he held a few months back was just something nice he did for the sake of his old Malice fans. Besides, if he is planning to go goth again, the color and look of the graphic are misleading.

We'll just have to wait and see.

More Klaha Interview Translations to Come -- Tuesday, November 18, 2003, 01:22 p.m.
I got an email yesterday from Amasanin from Malice Aftermath. She uploaded some scans of Klaha's other magazine interviews, and I've already taken a look at them. There's quite a bit of material, but I did some manipulation in Photoshop to make them more readable (the Zappy interview has smudges in the ink, but I can still read the characters), and I will do the best I can to finish them sooner than later.

Corrections and Additions -- Monday, November 17, 2003, 09:05 p.m.
Wow. I'm amazed at how I'm getting feedback on this. To hear from people is great. ^.^;

First of all, I would like to add about the Klaha/Yu~ki interview my great thanks to Aion from Klaha.net for pointing out the interview to me in the first place, and to the folks at this forum here for their assistance with the trickier parts, especially Hiroaki Sasaki, who did most of the work, even when she got a bit frustrated with some of the passages and told me I needed to read things with better grammar if I was still learning. ^.^;

Second, reading gakuhai's Live Journal today reminded me that it's not entirely true that Gackt's never done anything special for his foreign fans. The Surprise Party contest he's currently running is open to fans all over the world. Nice to know that we're getting the attention all around. ^.^;

Also, Amasanin from Malice Aftermath made a very interesting comment about why Klaha didn't put Marchen in with Setsubou. She pointed out that Klaha has yet to duplicate one track from one CD to another, a practice all too common in Japan. He's living up to his statement of not wanting to do easily-understandible, consistant things. Well, she is right, and different can be good. I'm reminded of how Sting once said, "If someone tells me I can't do something, that's when I'm going to go out and do it." Anyway, sorry I doubted you, Klaha!

Cryptogram News Update -- Monday, November 17, 2003, 03:33 a.m.
Okay, so I couldn't sleep. This is my third entry within the past 24 hours, but there's been more info coming out for Klaha in the past week than in the past 3 months combined perhaps. ^.^;

Anyway, the Cryptogram news page is updated again (told you it was the weekend in Japan). It's a really long one with a picture (click this entry's title to go see it).

Klaha New Release Notification!!
[Picture removed]
{11/20/2003, Advanced Reservation Begins!}

The mini album, entitled "Setsubou" [Note: Means "Desire" with the connotation of "A Deep Longing"; it will be interesting to see what English word fans decide to use] will only be availiable through mail order, therefore, reservation and purchase through normal record stores is not possible. When reserving, please follow the "right-side record" [Note: I'm not sure what this means； 右記 for those who can display and read Japanese kanji] method of sending your reservation request.
Also, as usual, a large quanity of CDs is scheduled to be manufactured.

{Reservation Instructions}

In the event you have an E-mail address
1) Along with the subject header [CD reservation], write your name/fan club member ID (fan club only)/address/phone number/e-mail address/item ID [szgy2001]/ and number of CD's requested, and send to cd@klahainfo.com
2) In each column of the post-office provided mailing form(the blue one) please place the required items, as well as send your order amount to the following account.
[Required Items]
Shipping column: fan club member ID (fan club only)/e-mail address/item ID [szgy2001]/number of CD's requested
Person Requesting Column: name/address/phone number
*Please write legibly in a manner that all information is easy to read

In the event you do not have an E-mail address
Follow the instructions for 2) above only.

Inquiries:
cd@klahainfo.com (This address is for inquiries relating to CD reservation sales only)

{Important Note}
Your reservation will only be established once it has been confirmed that we have recieved payment. Shipping of the product is scheduled to begin on 2/16, but there is a possibility that date may change.
Also, after you have made your reservation, cancellations and refunds are not possible, so we ask that you please understand. Exchanges for damaged or lost merchandise, or for items shipped by mistake instead of your order, should be made within 2 weeks to [I won't bother with the address and such, because you get the idea by now].


■information for oversea's fans■
We are sorry that we do not accept any orders from overseas at this moment.
We will try to find some way to receive orders from overseas.
It will be informed on this web site as soon as it is ready.

That last part, if you look on the website, was actually in English!! That's right! He knows we're out here, and he knows that there's enough of us and cares enough to find a way to ship overseas to us! :suppresses the urge to get up and dance around the room: This is certainly more than Mana (or even Gackt for that matter) has ever offered us. :gets up and dances after all:

Okay, I hope they get that overseas ordering system into place soon. I have my sights set on one of those photocards, and you darn well better believe I want to encourage him to let us get involved in more things (like, say, the fan club I've been dying to get into =^.^=) by being an overseas fan to place an order.

All in all, very good news, although I'm still wondering why he chose to release this to direct order only. Hmmm. Well, all I can do is speculate, so...

BTW, yes, the picture has text too, but apart from the very top, it doesn't say anything I haven't translated already, so I'll get back to you later with a translation of that. The kanji is slightly fuzzy and I'll need to blow it up first.

Translation of the Klaha/Yuki Interview -- Sunday, November 16, 2003, 10:00 p.m.
Whew. I've finally finished my translation of the interview Klaha and Yuki did on Klaha's birthday last year to discuss Klaha's new website and solo projects. You can access it by clicking on this entry title.

While working on this thing, I had plenty of time to think about things I wanted to say about it, but I refrain from doing so until later. First of all, because I want people to form their own opinions about it before reading mine. Second, because I just finished formatting the html and I'm ready to go cross-eyed from all the proofreading I've done today. ^.^; And my feet are asleep from sitting here. Ow.

Anyway, there's a lot of serious things being discussed here, and it explains a lot of why Klaha and Yuki have been doing what they have since Malice Mizer broke up, so it's definitely worth a read. The original page I took the Japanese from also has pictures, so it's worth a look. If only because Yuki has one mondo-major tattoo on his arm. o.O

More Release Info! -- Sunday, November 16, 2003, 03:28 p.m.
The public Cryptogram news page still hasn't been updated yet (I'm not surprised, since it is still the weekend in Japan too), but my Japanese info source has been buisy.

First, there were changes made to the previous announcement I posted a couple days ago, mostly in formatting, adding the email and snail mail addresses for contacting Cryptogram, and specifying in more places that the procedure for signing up for direct mailings was for non-fan club members (I guess they were getting a lot of dumb questions about whether club members had to register).

They also (in red) note that the cut-off date for signing up that way is 12/31/2003. But I'm sure this isn't what most of you overseas fans are waiting to hear.

The second is much more interesting. Translation:

2/16/2004 ... 1st Mini Album on sale! [Tenative Plans]: Tracks: 6. Price: 2100 yen. Item ID: szgy2001. First 1000 copies will contain a special "Not for sale" Klaha photocard. There will be a A and B version, enclosed at random. Persons buying more than 2 CDs at once will recieve both [Note: I think that's what this is saying, but don't trust me on it].
11/20/2003: Mail order reservation begins. Not for sale in general stores.
Inquiries related to the CD: cd@klahainfo.com

I'm not sure if the mail reservation is only through the site, or if the "not for sale in general stores" just means it's not going to be released on that date, or never going to be released in general stores. I'm going to assume for the best (the Cryptogram site doesn't take foreign orders for merchandise) and start looking for preorder info on CDJapan and such on that date.

Anyway, I guess I was wrong on both guesses. My first impression about that is: :blink:. Why didn't he just include the 4 tracks from Marchen and make a full album? Of course, I know the answer is price. The mini album will be 300 yen less than Nostal Lab, but only contains 6 tracks, and if you want the Marchen tracks, you'll still have to buy the single.

Drat it. Klaha's already picking up the dirty tricks of the bigger players. Well, I'm already planning to preorder the mini album if I can (it fortunately comes out at time I'll have money to), but I'll leave buying more than one to get both photocards to someone else.

Anyway, I complain, but I am looking forward to more Klaha music all the same. ^.^; I'll have to start looking around to see if I can find any track listings (or a title for that matter!), when the info comes out.

More News from a Japanese Fan Club Member -- Friday, November 14, 2003, 09:58 p.m.
Thanks to the folks who explained to me that DM is "Direct Mail" and is basically a mass-mailing for things like a catalog of products. Hmm. Didn't really realize he had one before.

No further information about the new release on the public Cryptogram site yet. However, a member of his fanclub has updated her site with what looks like a more complete version of the announcement from a few days ago:

A direct mailing reguarding a new release has been sent out. For fan club members, requesting the direct mailing is not neccessary. In a few days, information about the new release will be posted on the website. Note: From now on, we will also be sending out direct mailings concerning Klaha's activity and such. [My note: I think they mean announcements for lives and such by this ^.^;]

Persons wishing to receive the direct mailing initially, and persons who could not receive them because of incomplete information such as mailing address, should complete the mail form at "Klaha HP/Mail to Staff" by filling out [Mailing Address], [Name], [Phone Number], and [Initial Direct Mailing Request] and sending. For those wishing to change registration information such as your address, at [Change Registration Information], please submit both [Old Registration Information] and [New Registration Information].

We also have future plans to release information via email. Persons wishing to recieve information via email who have not registered their email address, please do so. Also, it is not possible to for us to send mail to cell phone email addresses. Therefore, we request persons registered with a cell phone email to change their registration to a PC account.

That's it. Pretty dry really, but it makes me wonder if the future plans for information by email is just for fan club members (after all, this notice was directed at them). The direct mailing appears to be for everyone, not just the fan club, so perhaps it will be possible for foreign fans to finally get some info emailed to them instead of stopping by the website daily in hopes of updates.

Okay, so maybe I'm the only person in the world that does that, but... ^.^;

TVK Music Chat -- Thursday, November 13, 2003, 08:33 p.m.
Well, I've finally managed to get my hands on a full copy of the TVK Music Chat from last December. :sighs that it's taken this long: I suppose I should eventually be ambitious to translate it, but first I'm going to look around in hopes someone else has a translation, or at least a transcript. Translation from a spoken conversation is a big pain and something I try to avoid at all costs. ^.^;

He just looked so cute in that scarf, however! I was frightened at first by the shirt with the red flower, but it kind of grew on me as I kept watching. The flower design is pretty nice, but I think that the scarf and the shirt would have worked better without the other. :coughs: But anyway... :must stop obsessing over his looks:

I always need to go through something a few times to get a good grasp of the conversation (and the Nostal Lab music blaring through the whole thing didn't help), but I believe I heard them say that they wished he could have brought his cats? :hee: I also noticed a reference again to Sazae-san (geesh, I really need to get that interview translation up), and I noticed the lolitas out in the audience. Mmm. I guess he'll have lolitas following him around for the rest of his career now. ^.^;

I also finally visited the Malice Aftermath list and gave in to joining. Ack! I was wishing for more transcripts of his interviews, and they have them, but boy, I wish there were more links to things other people have already translated. I feel so humbled by the bulk of material I've decided to tackle when it's taken me so long to do one. ^.^;

Cryptogram News Update -- Wednesday, November 12, 2003, 10:36 p.m.
Oh my goodness. I was going to talk about something else, but Klaha's finally updated his news section again! I'm shaking like a kid in anticipation of his Christmas presents as I translate it:

Today, a DM relating to a new release has been shipped out [I'm not sure what DM means; any takers? 6.6]. For non-fan club members, there has also been an entry posted concerning a change in DM registration procedure, so please take a moment to examine it. For fan club members, the DM procedure is not necessary.
Information concerning the new release will also be posted on the general site in a few days.

:pauses to cackle gleefully:. That's it folks. Klaha is finally putting out a new release. It doesn't state if it's a single or an album (I'm personally expecting it to be a single, but... ^.^;). I'm waiting with fingers crossed it's going to be a good one.

As for the DM, er, I'll get back to you on that...

-Gwendel

Klaha Info Blog -- Tuesday, November 11, 2003, 06:18 a.m.
I decided to do this because I wanted to talk more about Klaha but I didn't want to go spamming forums and stuff with some of my personal ramblings. I've also been trying to translate some of the Klaha stuff out there that's yet to be translated into English, and I wanted to have a decent place to put it.

Let's face it. I love the guy. Prolly too much now. :bleh: But after you've made friends with people over a person, and been trying for several weeks to finish a translation of his interview, heck, you get to know them.

Look at it this way. I'm still not obsessive enough to write fan fiction. :bleh: