Biography Special: D'espairsRay - Part 3

Part 3 - The members


HIZUMI

Name: HIZUMI
Name in Japanese transcription: 歪
Date of birth: March 2nd
Place of birth: Touhoku region
Blood type: B
Hobbies: computer and web design


HIZUMI was born a second son in a town in the Touhoku region on March 2nd. He did a lot with his brother, but once alone on his own, he felt uncertain and describes himself as a little loud mouth. In the end his inner self-doubts led him to music. He wanted to break free in a way.

His musical interest was awakened pretty late. He was more interested in technique than art, though he enjoyed music lessons at school and also wanted to travel abroad. During senior high, he joined his first band. Because he didn’t want to be in the spotlight and was pretty much inspired by the bassist of Iron Maiden, he played bass. He and one of his friends went out to a karaoke bar one evening and HIZUMI started to sing. His friend became alert and asked him, "Do you want to sing instead of playing bass?" Thanks to this friend, he finally became a singer. The first performance of the small group lasted 30 minutes, which was pretty normal for a multi-man gig. A little later, HIZUMI read an ad in a magazine and wrote an answer to TSUKASA: “We, a vocalist and a guitarist, are looking for members. How about it?” In the end, they met and everyone proved their talent. And that’s how the visual kei band Le'veil was born!

The group did well and soon after, they recorded the tape Last Illusion. Before they broke up, because their guitarist quit, they met KARYU. Of course he had seen them live, was totally delighted by their performance, and tried to recruit them. They declined the offer, but when Le’veil disbanded, HIZUMI accepted the offer and drove to Tokyo. There he first met 零-ZERO-. After a short argument over who would take the position as drummer, HIZUMI suggested TSUKASA and tried to call him to Tokyo. This line-up was finally successful and +DéspairsRay+ was born.

Outwardly, HIZUMI seemed to be a pretty balanced character, but in inwardly he was more withdrawn and often had doubts about himself. However, he integrated himself quickly into the group and has since then let himself get carried away by silliness; he is the first to laugh at the jokes of his band mates, and is the only non-smoker in the band. His time within the group cured him of his insecurities, and today he walks freely through his life.

Since their formation, HIZUMI has been the vocalist, lyricist, art director and designer. Both latter activities became reduced since Gärnet, so that he can fully contribute to the writing of the lyrics. But to briefly return to his work as art director and designer: he was busy in that area between [Kumo] and MaVERiCK. Now and then he insists on designing, and so in the spring of 2006 the crest of the [LIQUIDIZE] -Yuugousuru Taion- tour was created. HIZUMI once stated in an interview that the design of the logos is extremely relevant to the group. Attentive listeners could hear HIZUMI’s strong voice in the chorus of KISUI Project in 2003.

The past years have had some small highlights for HIZUMI. The band held a gig at SHIBUYA-AX for their 9th anniversary on September 9th, 2008. To the surprise of their fans, they changed roles for the second encore and HIZUMI was again able to pluck the bass for two songs (BRILLIANT and Facism). Furthermore, he was vocalist of the session 2 band in Over The Edge 2008. He performed for this intermezzo two BUCK-TICK songs alongside Yuu (Merry), MASATO (the Underneath), YUKKE (MUCC) and Hiroshi Sasabuchi (ex-Plastic Tree). Despite the short time for preparations, the performance was a huge success.

In private and in his free-time, he loves to play video games, do web design and to take care of his exotic animals - he keeps piranhas - but apart from this, he also enjoys driving through the country in his black Suzuki.

But HIZUMI’s state of health isn't always great. The latest concern took place at the beginning of April 2009, as he had to cancel the live in Sendai and go back into treatment as soon as possible. Even more recently, during the European tour, he suffered from the same illness. He regretted this incident in Japan, but was more relieved and cheerful for the later live on the 27th of May.

Visuals:

Over the years, he made only a few visual changes because he often dedicated himself to a certain type of style for a long time, but his presence on stage was rising extraordinarily. He is now an excellent front man who emits charisma and can only be described as a power package at 169cm. Furthermore, he made a huge vocal improvement: from high to low tones, from the typical screams to melodic vocal parts, HIZUMI has mastered everything now. In the gentle beginning (around 1999/2000) you saw him often with blue, small plaits in his hair, a reddish brown or blond, free shoulder-length hair. He often wore suitable black or dark blue suits that were pretty tight and looked worn out, if not tattered. Provocation and visual kei go well together, so people dress up beyond recognition, and even HIZUMI wasn’t an exception at certain times.

To the period of SEXUAL BEAST he was able to look almost completely reserved and like he had been beaten - the hair was jet-black and a bit shorter; his eyes were hidden behind white contact lenses. For the photo shooting of Ura mania theatre he squeezed his delicately built body into a black top and some sort of a light blue skirt and almost looked like a real woman, but for a spiked collar and this wild look coming from his blue contact lenses. He also wore the blue contacts for a photoshoot with a black-red variation of the outfit with leopard print. Pretty provocatively produced was the photoshoot for Ori no naka de miru yume. The vocalist sprawled himself half-naked alongside a toilet, where he tried to cover himself with toilet paper, his body strewn with cuts. The harmless version was produced at the sea. After that, there were times in which he often wore less clothes - and what he did wear was mostly worn out - or he wore only tight black patent leather trousers and made no secret of his chest except for a bit of paint on it (for example, in the Gärnet promotion). An absolutely must-have were the white contacts.

After the release of BORN, he wore more leather - his costumes became more pepped up and playful through lace-up applications. For the single -GEMINI- and the time after, his hair held a trace of color: a slight blue cast or a brunet coloration for a little variety. The black dress, slightly frayed at the sleeves, was complemented by a scarf and white contacts. As velvet, lace and leather celebrated their revival in costumes in the year 2005, the hair turned black again and the costumes became extravagant; only the colored contact lenses remained. HIZUMI abandoned shirts during lives and wore a long cloak over his naked skin. A short intermezzo followed with the white suits of Kogoeru yoru ni saita hana: a snow-white shirt with fitting trousers and a pair of gloves drew attention to the blue contacts and the blond, short hair of the musician. The break in style didn’t last for long, and just a few months later his blond hair made way for a slightly brunet variation; he wore a leather jacket and combined this with casual clothes. He supported the whole thing with his deeply loved white contact lenses.

In the following year it seems he rediscovered old virtues, wearing a lot of black - suitably dark gloves, scarf, belt buckles and dark, emphasized eyes completed the total picture. This stylistic comeback didn’t last for long, and since 2008 you can see HIZUMI often in bright shirts, with brunette hair, red jackets and light trousers. The look slightly changed with the new album; the black became a little more dominant, but the mostly casual look remained. This time, the whole was complemented by silver-white ribbons and feathers in his brunette hair.


Karyu

Name: Karyu
Name in Japanese transcription: カリュウ
Date of birth: 7th December
Place of birth: Yamaguchi
Blood type: O
Hobbies: playing video games


It’s not easy living with a younger brother, and KARYU had to figure it out early. He was born on December 7th in Yamaguchi, a city in southern Honshu. At that time, he must have already cut an impressive figure, as in adulthood, he is imposing at 183cm - a great achievement for a Japanese man. As a child, he loved playing football and had always been a leader and a little rebel. During elementary school, he urged his classmates to play outside the yard, which caused him numerous visits to the principal’s office.

As he got older, he started to spend more time with his friends on the road than at home. That naturally caused resentment in his family. Every time he returned home, he would fight with his parents, and then KARYU would return to his “base camp," which started the vicious cycle all over again. However, his time at middle school had positive side effects: his first contact with music. He learned to play guitar - not an acoustic one, but a real electric guitar that his father gave to him. His father had played in a band and taught his son how to play. KARYU started to have fun, and with his first band he played covers of his favourite groups: BOØWY and Kattse (a band from Yamaguchi). Singing was out of question for him, even though he now sings backup vocals and the chorus in HORIZON. Not too long after, KARYU composed his first song, and even though it was difficult, he could not imagine anything else thereafter.

Long before leaving school, he was already thinking about going to Tokyo in order to become a musician. However, his father didn’t believe in his strength of will: "You are coming back home soon!" were his words.

During his time in high school, KARYU's biggest desire was to create a band, so he put out an ad in "Bando yarouze" and tried to look for members in this way. Luckily, he found a few candidates for Dieur Mind, but the project did not last long. Even before high school ended, though after the release of the demo-tape MESSAGE, he was already threatening to disband.

KARYU was still playing drums at that time and studying. On the last tour with his band, he more or less randomly met 零-ZERO- and his group. They were sympathetic from the beginning, and during one of their dinners they found out they had the same desire and goal in mind. A little later, he met HIZUMI and finally TSUKASA.

Not infrequently, KARYU loitered around the Takadanobaba AREA, thinking about his next band - an original one. He even thought about it being a visual kei band, and suddenly it came to him to call HIZUMI. This strengthened his decision, and later he called 零-ZERO-, HIZUMI and TSUKASA, telling them, "Let’s get together and record a demo-tape!" The timing could not have been more favourable - after all, the others' bands had just broken up - and voila, +DéspairsRay+ was born.

After watching the movie "Interview with a Vampire" (1994), KARYU felt attracted in a weird way to vampires. He was promptly appointed as one, often startling his classmates. The theme he kept in his band Dieur Mind (where he called himself Yoshitaka) and the one that he used in +DéspairsRay+ was always "Vampire KARYU." This influenced him a lot on the musical level: many of the old songs stick to a somewhat mythical, sinister level.

Karyu writes about 90% of all the songs, in cooperation with his band mate TSUKASA, or Shinobu Narita (their programmer and producer). In the case of Tsuki no kioku -fallen-, "Forbidden", [The world in a cage] and Closer to ideal he helps out with the lyrics, too. One year after the release of MaVERiCK, the tall guitarist changed his name: from KARYU to Karyu, and he applied it because of a change in his own perception.

If the ex-band leader - he resigned his office a few years ago, leaving it to TSUKASA - has ever felt lonely in Tokyo, since the summer of 2002 there’s been a four-legged housemate that keeps him away from the solitude: Ryutarou, a small black cat. People in Japan are very superstitious about black cats, since it is said they bring evil, but the guitarist was well aware of it when he brought the little tiger to his apartment. Even here, we can see that the rebel side of the man is still very strong. Though not confirmed by the man, it is imaginable since he also has a tattoo on his right finger. Behind the tough facade that he gladly shows during lives with hard but yet melodic guitar riffs hides a man full of feelings. This is demonstrated by the compositions of recent years.

In spring 2005, he discovered a white electric guitar in a guitar shop: he was undecided whether to buy it or not - the colour was a bit unusual at that time. Accompanying him was Acey (vocalist of TRASH LIGHT VISION), who encouraged the guitarist to purchase it by telling him: "This is a horny lighting effect," and since then Karyu leads his songs with this instrument. In 2008, a second copy was added; its primary colour was white, but it was decorated with black tribal signs - the design was done by Karyu himself! All his models are produced by the renowned ESP. In the same year, after almost ten years, he sat again behind the drums. He was still good, but he was evidently rusty. He had learned only superficially how to play drums; obviously he is not an experienced player like his colleague TSUKASA, so he ended up playing just two songs, BRILLIANT and Facism.

Visuals:

Among the wild performances on stage that can only be described as excessive, he adopted a more abstract look. So, between 1999/2000, he changed his outfit with red-brown hair, haunting red contact lenses, a spike collar, purple lipstick and a tight black and red corset. Even then, he really liked to provoke others with his image. This rigorously continued over the years: white contact lenses, pale makeup, long fingernails, sometimes blond, red or brunet hair (both short and long); he almost always wore tight-fitting black outfits that now and then were decorated with strings. Then the provocative shooting of Ori no naka de miru yume came out. He sat there, bound and gagged in a bathtub, his body covered with wounds. No one knows if he achieved what he was aiming for.

In contrast, he toned it down a lot with MaVERiCK. His outfit consisted of strings wrapping his slender figure and, with blond hair and colored contacts, it formed a nice unit. Only a few months later, he wore a more vampire-like costume. For BORN's PV, his lengthened the hair on the right side of his head with some extensions. Even here, the beige and black costume joined a nice combination with a chic tie and blue lenses. The hair though, changed color to a reddish blond. On his head found place also a fancy cowboy hat. A bright red lipstick, white contact lenses and a long dress made the guitarist stand out on the stage. The first half of 2005 was characterized by reddish or blonde long hair, long black coats, blue contact lenses and every now and then also a hat. The second half of the year, and especially at the concerts, he impressed the audience with red contact lenses, a gothic suit, gloves and gorgeous short reddish-brown hair. Karyu’s outfit for the single Kogoeru yoru ni saita hana can be best described as a white straight jacket - even if he could actually move his arms, and blue lenses to complete the look. Not even three months later he was dressed in a dark scarf, black tattered jeans, a shirt and a leather jacket.

With the new year, the short reddish-blond hair disappeared and instead came a shoulder-length variant. The style was almost casual, sometimes pure fabric, other times denim and leather. At the lives he usually had braids and a black vest to complete the outfit. In 2008 he changed a bit: sometimes he had shoulder-length brunette hair, and then they were again shorter and blond, and vice versa. The same was also reflected in the constant change of clothes - black is still the dominant color, though he also preferred elegant jackets, white shirts and light trousers. In live shows he added sweat bands, bandanas, blue contact lenses and bright white boots, which harmonized well with his new guitar model. A few silver feathers adorned his blond head for the shooting of the album REDEEMER. In addition, there was also a long black cloak covering his body and blue contacts.


ZERO

Name: ZERO
Name in Japanese transcription: 零-ZERO-
Date of birth: 31st July
Place of birth: Saitama
Blood type: O
Hobbies: taking photographs


零-ZERO- was born on July 31st in Saitama, near Tokyo and acquired a younger brother and sister in the following years. However, at the age of two he met a cruel fate: he was hit by a truck and the results were serious internal injuries and some broken bones from which he recovered miraculously. Even though the doctors gave little hope to his family, with the love and care of their parents and a few acquaintances, he recovered.

In elementary school 零-ZERO- was a trouble child full of imagination. His parents often found themselves having to apologize for his behavior in the neighborhood. However, he was enthusiastic about music even in these early years (actually, as early as kindergarten), often singing happily. His voice was compared to a boy soprano's, but it eventually changed over the years. This caused some embarrassment for him singing in front of girls, and in this period he also started to learn the harmonica and did solos during school performances.

Thanks to a friend’s parent, he got into BUCK-TICK and X during his years in middle school, and this marked his first contact with visual-kei as well as the J-rock band BOØWY. Around this time, the desire to create his own music was growing; he usually spent his days in the nearby library, where he quenched his musical thirst by listening to albums of Van Halen and Bauhaus. In the third year of the intermediate level, he even wanted to learn how to play guitar, but it would be a few more years before he would be able to, since he was enrolled in the local football team and pursuing club activities.

Finally 零-ZERO- succeeded in founding a band with a friend of his, but he was still part of a sport club (this time it was basketball). After being enthusiastic for a while about black music, he soon returned to X and BOØWY and his desire to master the guitar increased. His first group, a BUCK-TICK cover band, only lasted ten months before its dissolution. Soon afterwards a new band was ready; it only lacked a bass player, so he was driven to play that instrument. This band stayed active for four years. His parents supported him from the beginning, providing him clothes and, obviously, a bass. Since he is self-taught, he learned how to play the instrument slowly, and that’s why he chose the name 零-ZERO-. After school he worked in a factory, and during the nights and free days he devoted himself to the band. However, he was invited by KARYU to join his new project (since his band, Dieur Mind, had broken up too). The two met during a live thanks to Dieur Mind‘s drummer who went tot he same high-school as 零-ZERO-. Shortly afterwards, the two guys met in Tokyo and got to know their colleagues.

Over the years in D’espairsRay, he moved from a four-string bass to a five string one. He is quite proud of this achievement, since he underwent a variety of difficult exercises in order to do this. 零- also currently plays a specially designed bass (usually in a beautiful emerald green), manufactured by ESP.

He could be described as a slim, approximately 1.70m tall, very quiet, reserved and thoughtful guy during school, but also a very erratic and impatient man. For his band mate Karyu, ZERO is the brother he has always wanted. Recently he made a drastic change on stage - he has become more lively, inciting the audience and moving around more on the stage. In the band, he’s the one who provides moral support. One of his biggest idols and role models is Mana (leader and guitarist of Moi dix Mois). In May 2003 he got rid of the kanji 零 (Rei) before his nickname and remained only ZERO. During winter 2006 the official fan club opened, and ZERO had his own space (“Deepthink”), in which he usually posted some flash movies about his thoughts and feelings. On November 7th, 2008 he opened his official blog called “KALEIDOSCOPE,” (accessible to everyone,) in which he reported his everyday experiences with pictures and words. The trick in his blog was that it had a limited period of time to be viewed: on September 9th, 2009, right on the band’s 10th anniversary, the bassist intended to close it. He didn’t have the heart to do it though, so he delayed the closing until November 7th. On their 9th anniversary live, ZERO switched places with Karyu and played his guitar, and the same happened during their 10th anniversary free live at SHIBUYA-AX. He doesn’t have any pets, though he would like to have a cat, and in his free time he enjoys photographing.

Visuals:

He always had a soft spot for the appearance; during school days he would have dyed his hair but it was against the rules, so he waited a few more years. There is certainly no surprise that 零-ZERO- tried different looks and colours in +DéspairsRay+ since the beginning. At first he had a blond and voluminous haircut. Dark lipsticks and black and purple patent outfits supported the visual breakout. But with the release of -TERRORS-, his hairstyle dramatically changed - a head half shaved on his left side, with long, dark and shiny hair on his right, worn in a ponytail. There was also a red and black lace costume, a spike collar, white contact lenses and long, dark fingernails. This gradually developed to a tendency to look feminine. For the Ura mania theater campaign, he pushed himself to the extremes. 零-ZERO- still had long, blond hair matching with a black outfit. A little later he added yellow contacts, sensuous red lips, suspenders, a fancy collar and gauntlets. A little later, in 2002, he was equally provocative and erotic in a new shooting. The young man posed in front of the camera tied to a bed with a telephone cord around his hands and neck. During the following years he crossed the scene with a manly appearance, though still blond. Sometimes he wore a black lace costume with strings, sometimes a combination with leather lacing. Following, he changed only his hair colour and length, from short blond hair to a longer dark variant.

For BORN, 零ZERO was again nearly bald: the entire undercoat was missing, and he tied the remains in small braided pigtails. The costume was a kind of leather skirt with a ribbed top attached to the stripping of the long sleeves. In his face, his lips were dark and one could see the loss of his eyebrows. At that time he was really a ghost-like type. Only a few weeks later, he wore a very different style: rasta braids, blue contact lenses and a black and red leather outfit with fishnet tights accompanying the suspenders. The braided pigtails made their comeback for [Coll:set]. The whole outfit was a long black coat and coloured contact lenses. His suit in Kogoeru yoru ni saita hana was almost a special design: it had something of a straight jacket, but still it was a filament network close to a spider web. In his braided black hair could be found few white streaks. The overall picture was completed with blue contact lenses and suitable smoky eyes.

零ZERO had this “braided” look until the summer of 2006, when he decided for a shoulder-length brownish black hair. Even look-wise he changed a bit: tattered jeans, a casual jacket and a simple shirt. During the lives, he added a shawl too. For promotional shoots he favored dark fabrics, denim and leather garments, but afterwards he added a bit of colour to the outfit, like the red printed vest worn at RUISROCK in Finland. Gradually, he found the way to the colour starting in 2008: he wore a white printed shirt, a dark jacket with casual black trousers and a lumberjack shirt - the latter he wore preferably during lives. With REDEEMER he caught and drew the attention back to the visual side: a feather hat, blond shoulder-length hair, a red feather jewelery tattoo near his left eye and a black dress and a shawl. After this shooting, he changed his hair colour again, modeling an orange-blond shade.


TSUKASA

Name: TSUKASA
Name in Japanese transcription: 司
Date of birth: 6th March
Place of birth: Yamagata
Blood type: B
Hobbies: making movies, painting and sketching


On the 6th of March, little TSUKASA was born in the north of Honshu in the small town Yamagata. He grew up together with his elder brother in a normal house. In his early childhood, especially during spring and summer, he enjoyed fishing near a local river. Early on, little TSUKASA started to dream of a career as musician. He was pretty taken with enka (Japanese folk songs) - his father was a huge fan too, and so he wanted to become a singer of folk songs. Hosokawa Takashi, Masao Sen or Yamamoto George were some of his biggest idols in the past.

As TSUKASA attempted elementary school, he dreamed of being a part of the school's brass band. After a few years of waiting, he entered junior high school and started learning more music. Afterward, a dream came true; he joined the brass band. He played tenor saxophone, but he wished to play percussion. Through a TV show, he became aware of drums for the first time, but the saxophone was offered him instead, on which he practiced daily. Time went by, and when he was in his first year of senior high school, he got the chance to learn the drums. TSUKASA was still in the brass band, and one of his friends in the band who played guitar pushed him a bit to join in. They met in a classroom, where he found a drum set, and TSUKASA took his place behind it and played a little bit. His friend was so enthused that they decided to play in the yearly autumn school festival.

Through his friend, who was a huge metal fan, TSUKASA started to learn about artists like METALLICA and tried to play their songs. Together with his friend's cover band, he played on the above mentioned's music in festivals at several schools throughout Japan. They performed four songs by METALLICA, and TSUKASA found that he enjoyed playing the drums very much. It seemed that he was born to be a drummer - but of course he had to train a bit. Because of his great success at the school festivals, he wondered whether he could join the band next year. In the end, he was chosen as the band leader, and the young cover band decided to play songs by UNICORN and B'z. It was around that time he started to write his own tracks for a planned solo project - a bit of enka at first, and pop a little later - but it was still pretty difficult for him.

His time at senior high school was tough; he was playing in his own band (and in many others as drummers were in high demand) and in the brass band at the same time. There wasn't much time left for composing, though he continued to try because he wanted to play his own tracks with the band. After senior high school, he started to work in the publishing business, but he remained active in the band. However, the desire for a lasting group grew stronger, and so he gathered his band mates around him and put out an ad in "Bando yarouze" to search for members. Among the four replies was HIZUMI. Just a little later, they faced each other for the first time in real life, and TSUKASA disbanded his high school band to join the visual kei band Le'veil as drummer. At one of several lives, both met with KARYU, and he wanted to have them in his next band, as KARYU’s had broken up.

When HIZUMI, KARYU and 零-ZERO- gathered in Tokyo, it became clear through casual conversation that TSUKASA should be the drummer in the band. HIZUMI persuaded him to do a trial day in the studio, though even there it took a lot of persuasion to get the young man to join +DéspairsRay+. TSUKASA, though he loved his home very much, quit his job and moved to Tokyo.

He named himself TSUKASA (which means leader, servant or administrator) and took his place behind the drum set. He is the second song writer in the group, writing hits like Reddish -DIVA version-, Hai to Ame and Screen. Once, he was asked whether he sang or not; he answered with a laugh, "For this kind of music I don’t have the right voice." But there were a lot of difficult times as well. The band often argued and thought about breaking up, but during a really hard time when the band was struggling, TSUKASA took up the role of entertainer and mood-maker - and with his special sense of humor, he delighted his band colleagues over and over again. He is the band leader of D'espairsRay now, after Karyu gave the position to him.

From the beginning of 2006 until spring of the following year, the freethinker moderated an internet radio show on Starchildren24.com. The show was called "Maniac Station" and almost every month, he gave a charming and funny snippets of what life was like behind the scenes with D'espairsRay. Even here, he could be appreciated as an entertainer, evoking laughter and delight among his occasional studio guests and his listeners as well. The show had a short revival in spring 2008 on the members page of the fan club. From April to October 2009, the program ran on the "Nack5 Streaming Club." The final show was recorded on September 22nd, 2009.

The live on September 9th, 2008 at SHIBUYA-AX has been mentioned several times now. TSUKASA was able to sing his versions of BRILLIANT and Facism on that night. He didn’t have to make any preparations for it, unlike his band mates, and in the end he cut a great figure. The year 2009 keeps a special victory for him: he was chosen by GACKT to play the drums in the PV for Setsugekka-The end of silence-/ZAN. This is a great honor for him, and also led him to play with GACKT on MUSIC JAPAN (a TV music show) on December 6th.

Some of his hobbies accompany him almost everywhere - he loves to make movies, and his slightly strange humor is obvious in his films. He loves to draw as well, as long as he finds the necessary time for it; from pencil to acrylic paint, every material is used. He gets inspired by his surrounding and the tours, and his experiences are helping him as well in describing his emotions and thoughts in music. At first, his works were freely exhibited on the website, but it soon became a privilege for the fan club members, and currently his pictures are unfortunately un-viewable to all. Additionally, he is driven by a strong curiosity about extreme sports - you can watch this in the so-called "Special tracks" on their The World Outside The Cage DVD. He lives in a small flat together with two cats.

Visuals:

The 1,71m slender, young man looks back on a lot of visual changes. From sexy to harmless; from sporty to provocative, everything is somehow extant. Especially the first three years were pretty provocative: "war paint", tight fur-trimmed patent leather outfits, colored contacts, garter belts, corsage and different hair colors determined the initial stage. A bit more harmless but not less challenging was the period after the release of MaVERiCK. White contacts, a dark costume, a bit more covered skin, as well as a red velvet scarf were embellishing accessories. After the release of BORN he said goodbye to his easygoing short hair. His predominant brunette tinted hair made way for a long red-blonde mane. Then TSUKASA squeezed himself into a tight black patent leather suit, with white contacts hiding his true eye color. A few months later, he came to his side parting, which he likes to wear in a long or short version since then. Around the same time, and he must have discovered his love for the blue contact lenses, because of every color he likes this one the most. Speaking of colors, he had just about every shade of color from the red-brunette color range in his hair, every now and then were decorated with some highlights. During promotion shooting he often wore black patent leather suits, but during lives he preferred the light fabric variation like a simple black shoulder shirt for example.

Blue contact lenses, in-braided blonde streaks and a slight bluish make up decorated TSUKASA’s head in spring 2006; This was added to by a short white suit with arm cuffs and garter belts, which was accompanied by a necklace as embellishing accessories. For summer time and the following year, he rummaged some shoulder tops out again, over which he occasionally wore a leather vest as well as some sweatbands and dark trousers, which were sometimes decorated with string applications in 2006 for example. His weakness for vests and shoulder vests solidified by that time, but the jackets changed every then and then: for BRILLIANT it was a violet patent leather variation with worked in fur and for HORIZON it was a severe fabric jacket, somewhat reminiscent of the Japanese school uniforms for boys. Color, in form of red ribbons in the artist's brunette hair, returned with REDEEMER. In the accompanying tour he tried out a slight orange-blond color variation similar to ZERO’s.


The writers would like to thank D'espairsRay for their great works as well as Viktor Hemminger and NirVanKa for their great support with some researching.

Main sources: the official sites and items, JaME data base, Visunavi, VKDB, several magazines like SHOXX, FOOL’S MATE, their special issues, Zy., ROCK and READ, Peach, Orkus and many more.