heya,

I've come back in here because I want to ask you guys for your expert opinions:

I've been hearing varying reports about whether or not a M10M US tour would even be plausible given the so-called low number of people who've actually heard of them.

Personally I think the anime con presence proves a high popularity potential, but I'd like to hear if anyone has more reliable information about the number of North American fans/MA members.

Essentially in the end, I'm curious about the potential for fan-based activity facilitating the process or if that would even be allowed. I'm just trying to gather information at this point and I'd love to hear others' thoughts on the subject.

What do you think it'll take to get Mana to tour the US?

From what I've read before, Mana has said he has the most Mon+Amour members in the US.

I know thats probably not saying much because there are a lot of people in America (since its bigger in size than most places), but I think it also shows that if his biggest Mon+Amour member rate is over here, the fanbase must be quite large. Larger than we even suspect it to be.

I used to have a Moi dix Mois myspace that had several thousands of "friends" on it, in which the majority was either from North America or Europe (the percentage between the two was about equal). I would say it grew to about 5,000 people or so.

Personally, I don't think there are not a lot of REAL fans in America, compared to the number of fans that have simply heard of Mana through Malice Mizer and know Moi dix Mois. The fans who are into visual kei and Jrock would probably bring in the biggest number of people who would attend the concert, so I would have to say that yes there is a low number of Moi dix Mois fans in the US, but there are thousands and thousands of fans across the US that are into visual kei and jrock that would more than likely go to their concerts if they toured here. Usually if you say "Mana-sama will come to the US" a lot of attention would be drawn simply because just about every jrock/visual kei fan in America at least knows who Malice Mizer is.

I think it is plausible to have Moi dix Mois tour the US simply because of how vastly visual kei and jrock is growing as a subculture in the US (and like you said, Anime Conventions are a HUGE contribution to that). Moi dix Mois isn't not particularly well known itself over here, but a lot of people will come to the show if they hear they're coming basically for the support of seeing a famous Japanese artist in the US. It would also depend on where Moi dix Mois would tour...not only by city but also venue. I've heard of Japanese bands coming to the US, but not particularly getting the best venues so a lot of fans have missed out on their concerts. Location is sooo important, especially for Japanese artists. Time is also another important factor that decides how many fans would come to a show. If you have it during the school year, a lot of people probably wont be able to attend compared to if they came over during the summer or any other important break, or especially during each state's "convention season" (when big anime conventions are held...usually from Early June-Late August).
Moi dix Mois would probably have a show up of a few hundred to over a thousand people if they played in places such as California, Texas, and New York (i'm sure there are other places, but those are some of the major "jrock states")

The best way to find out if a good number of people to support Moi dix Mois in coming to the US is probably sending out advertisements across the internet along with petitions and getting groups of people to act as a street team by informing others at Japanese culture related events (anime conventions, Japanese festivals, lolita meet ups, etc) of Moi dix Mois by trying to create a support base that would like to see them come over. Its best to do any of that is in an organized way and you could probably find a good number of people who would want Moi dix Mois to come tour the US. It might not draw in EVERYONE who would go to the concert, but it would get a good majority of people's attention.

I would say if you considered all that (timing, places, and advertisement or ways to get jrock fans interested) Moi dix Mois could easily have a tour with close to a thousand people per venue they played at. But in all honesty, to be safe, I probably wouldn't set the bar for the number of fans past 1,000 PER VENUE just because states are so wide spread and a lot of factors depend on if fans can even make it to the states touring if they don't live remotely near a venue. I could be wrong though, they could quite possibly get audiences over 1,000 (In california they easily could get over 1,000 fans more than likely), but I'm just playing it safe from what I've seen at several other jrock concerts I've been to.

I didn't thoroughly read the previous two posts because they're reaaaaaally long, but my two cents...

EVERY J-tard I have ever met knows who Mana is. They may not know about M10M, but they know that pretty blue guy with a bonnet, and they would go to his show if they had the chance. That's not including the actual fans, many of whom are kind of hard to spot (like preppy little me xD) who might come out of hiding to go to a show.
Also, if bands like TCST and BLOOD who aren't even popular in Japan have US tours, I'm sure Mana could pull it off. He just needs to get management that doesn't suck (unlike last time) and advertise properly.

So I think if he wants to, he can do it.
Hell, if does I'll join his fanclub.
I really will. :hayato2:

Yeah. There was 06, but it didn't work out. Then last year, nothing. But 08? Lets cross our fingers! :heart:

M10M should follow in the footsteps of Dir en Grey by taking on a festival spot... it's a good opportunity for foreign bands to get a foothold in America without being an opening act for some lame US band. Dir en Grey did Family Values with Korn, Deftones, etc. in 2006 (or was it 07?) and I think it helped expand their fan base.

P.S. I'm Rikki and I'm new :D

Yeah, I remember hearing about them touring with Korn, but apparently it didn't work out that well... I heard that they were booed to the point where some of the members cried. :/

I'm not a Dir en Grey fan myself, but that's just rude. :anger:

BTW, welcome! :D

Is that so? I was always under the impression that they received a warm welcome... they were all over the place in US... in magazines, posters in CD shop windows, even *gasp* MTV!

But that's just horrible... I'm not a huge Dir en Grey fan, either (their diversity appealed to me initially, though) but it still sucks that Americans are so friggin rude!!!

There you have it, MTV. They were to mainstream I'll bet. Ober hear My Chemical Romance & Panic at the Disco have beeen bottled of the stage so yeah...

Personally I think Moi Dix Mois should maybe start by doing concerts at those anime cons or something, it seems to be working well enough for other Japanese musicians.

So long as they come to WI I'm one happy camper!!!

I think Mana is too stuck up to do festival type tours with several other bands. All I've ever heard on that option is that he would rather it be a one band performance, meaning only Moi dix Mois.

I think Mana is also too stuck up for most of our management groups that would be willing to bring him over, but hell I probably would be too. XD A lot of them are pretty much fan run and kinda suck. Hes very particular and unfortunately for us Americans, Europe can provide a lot more for cheaper cost than America can. Also, I don't know if its particularly true, but I see European management as more conservative than our American jrock management. I've noticed with a lot of management programs over here the groups who bring the bands over are easy to say "OK we'll let you work with us!" if you have remotely the right connections (ugh. a lot of people I know work with japanese bands and it annoys me to a great extent. Most of them don't deserve to be doing it because they're just a bunch of screaming little fangirls someone has taken interest into just because they think they're hot.)

The fact that smaller bands can come over here just kinda means they have less to provide to. Some people are out managing bands just to say they got a jrock band over here, while others are out to make a quick buck (can totally name a good handful of those XD).

I'd like to see Moi dix Mois come over ON THE CIRCUMSTANCE that someone who genuinely can take care of their needs and aren't out for a scam or to be "BETTER THAN U OMFGZ" could bring them over. That is so hard to do in the world of American Jrock, and I think Mana is looking for someone professional. He works a lot with very strict contracts and I think a lot of American management groups have a hard time dealing with that.

thank you all, especially Sarah for your replies....I am reading and pondering.


I know street team activity usually starts up once a tour is announced, but does anyone know if anyone has tried to organize something to demonstrate fan support for a NA tour?


I wish I understood the process better.


When you speak of management, do you mean tour promotion? Has anyone poked around to see what promotion companies might be interested in working with Midi:nette?

No problem!

yes, promotion management, and the actual people who bring the bands over.
They really need good management for promotion and people working with the band while on tour. I worry just because I've seen so many of them who have really screwed things up for the bands and it kinda bothers me, but thats a different rant for a different time. XD

As for street teams, I actually have heard of tons of street teams who have gone around for the bands without having a tour scheduled. There used to be a huge Dir en grey street team some of my friends were in charge of before Dir en grey considered coming over here. There have also been a few others floating around, mostly just to get people aware and interested in bands that have potential to come to the US.(^^) I've gone around promoting bands as a street team manager a couple times before and if you do it all in the right places people get REALLY excited and interested in it!

what activities are recommended and how does one go about organizing something like that? :dix: