His name is simply GACKT. Legally, that’s what it is now; like Prince or Madonna-- he’s a single named icon.
[Edit: Since 2009, all caps GACKT. Sorry Dears for my initial oversight! The web coverage is misleading, as I encountered instances of both]
When I told my wife (who happens to be Japanese) that he was going to be coming to TIFF for Bunraku, she exclaimed “GACK-TO?!” As it goes, her mom is also a huge fan, in fact, he’s got quite the fan base.
GACKT is a huge superstar in Japan, and is a growing sensation overseas.
Here's a crash course.
GACKT:
He is an artist in every sense of the word; writer, multi instrumental musician, vocalist, artist, record producer. He’s an extremely accomplished musician with eight studio albums, six compilation albums and many popular singles.
He’s also a movie star, having had roles in the films Kamen Rider Decade: All Riders Vs Dai-Shocker (which he also did the theme song for), and the 2003 film Moon Child (which he also co-wrote)
His songs have appeared in films and video games; to the extent of providing narration and having the main character modeled after him with Bujingai.
His fans are collectively dubbed “Dears”... and now they have their own credit card.
Has a beautiful waterfall in his house, and once a crew member fell in.
He is extremely passionate about preserving the Japanese language, especially the traditional feminine components (In Japanese there are both male and female ways of saying things) ; beyond this he is a self professed “language and voice fetishist”.
He is a huge fan of Gundam, and did a theme song for the anime.
He teams up with Josh Hartnett on a violent quest for revenge as a samurai with his first North American role in Bunraku.
GACKT "Ghost" Music Video (this song was used for the Japanese version of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles)
GACKT "The Next Decade" Music video:
Come and witness the legend that is GACKT as he graces the red carpet for Bunraku.
Bunraku Screening times:
Saturday, Sept. 11. 11:59pm Ryerson
Tuesday, Sept 14. 10:15pm Scotiabank Theatre 2
Friday, Sept 17. 5:00pm Scotiabank Theatre 2
You can purchase tickets from the official TIFF website.
Great article!
ReplyDeleteGotta spread the GACKT love!
Too bad "The Next Decade" wasn't even written by GACKT XD.
ReplyDeleteI'm one of the people who were unable to get a ticket to the premire of Bunraku. It's my dream in life to just SEE Gackt in Canada! I live by his music ad ideology. If some of us weren't able to get tickets, if we still try to go, will we be able to see Gackt?
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised there aren't a million posts from Gackt fangirls informing you that he prefers his name to be spelled in all caps: GACKT
ReplyDeleteRegardless, this is a really well written piece. Thank you.
wow amazing blog. Looks like you really did your research! :3 Happy Gackt fan is happy
ReplyDeleteHuge fascinating star. Can't wait to see him in Bunraku. He also recently appeared on stage in Japan as Nemuri Kyoshiro, the Son of Black Mass, in a play that seems to be a reboot-reinterpretation of the character. Cool guy.
ReplyDeleteI've been listening to Gackt for almost ten years. I've always hoped that somehow, someday he would eventually make waves in the Western world as an accomplished artist.
ReplyDeleteMy hopes have repeatedly been dashed as video game nerds (of which I usually count myself) judge him as being too pretty for them to give his music a chance and low-tier movie critics dismissing him as "looking gay" when Moon Child came out on DVD in the US.
Reading this respectful breakdown of the facts from a normal Western guy fills me with joy. I can't even put properly put my thanks into words.
You rock, Darryl, whoever you are.
Steph had a good question.
ReplyDeleteI would also like to know the answer :)
Woow, I'm a Gackt fan too, I don's know if you are, you write about your wife and her mother, but, woow... lol...
ReplyDeletehe is amazing, isn't he?
I will follow you because I loved you way to talk about him... xD
Great article, I can't wait for this movie to come out just to see GACKT in it! ^_^
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for this brief intro into GACKT Darryl, you've really done an excellent job. Right now all his fans are probably dancing in delight at your work haha~!
ReplyDeleteIt's probably also worth mentioning that he portrayed the warlord Uesugi Kenshin in the NHK 2007 historical drama 'Furin Kazan' and had high praise for his performance as well as for the song Returner ~Yami no Shuuen~, which was inspired by the drama. His portrayal of Kenshin is also what convinced Guy Moshe to head over to Japan to personally ask GACKT to participate in Bunraku.
I am excited to finally see GACKT step onto the world-wide stage, and I know that it's only the beginning.
Thank you once again!
Oh My GACKT
ReplyDeleteI have known about this possibility for some time and am heart broken the TIFF members bought all the tickets before citizens could try to purchase nay. Non the less, it just insures that his movie will be viewed by those who were meant to appreciate this sort of thing, so I am glad he will be surrounded by ppl who know what they're looking for. Lol
I hope there is a general public premiere closer to LA in the near future, and hopefully GACKT will be there as well. >.>
PS, yes I am a forever Dear; he is nothing short of my one true love, and too perfect for words at the very least.
You know why he has the waterfall in his room right? It's cuz the amount of humidifiers he required equaled to it; he thought it was just easier ^^ lol too bad he is hardly ever in his room though
Yes, this is a great post, I appreciate the respect held for him <3 arigato gozaimasu
Thank you so much for taking the time to update his name! I know it can be confusing when a lot of us are lazy and type it as 'Gackt' despite his blog entries reminding us that it is 'GACKT' now. ^-^
ReplyDeletethank you for that beautiful breakdown about GACKT .
ReplyDeletewhy im not from canada!! want to see gackt in the big scream. sorry crappy english
ReplyDelete*O*!Great article!
ReplyDeleteI've been waiting so long for BUNRAKU's release!
is my dream to see Gackt in film, and of course, see him on live ♥.♥ I wish so badly BUNRAKU can reach the Chilean cinema (I'm a Chilean Dears^^!)
I'll send all my vibes to Bunraku for will be very well received and can be seen all around the wolrd ^^!!
Gotta spread the GACKT love!
I have to admit it, I discovered all the BUNRAKU project a few years ago because of GACKT. Now, due to the screenshots and reviews I'm very interested in watching this promising movie for a lot of reasons, but yeah, the first and main one is GACKT's in it ^^.
ReplyDeleteThanks SOOO much for this great review of his career. Most webs talking about BUNRAKU forget about him, or maybe they just ignore how popular he is in Japan,and not only there! besides countries surrounding Japan (China, Korea, etc.) You may found loooots of GACKT's fans around the world, just as an example said he/she is Chilean, I'm Argentinian.
It's great that Guy Moshe included him in this movie, even if later people start talking bad about him, GACKT is steping forward and taking risks all the time. He's a great artist because of that, because he always tries to be more than what he already is.
I guess that's why we, fans, never get tired of him.
Just to note to anyone who did not get tickets to BUNRAKU, you should read our post: "Rush line at Midnight? Don't Panic!"
ReplyDeletehttp://tiffmidnightmadness.blogspot.com/2010/09/rush-line-at-midnight-dont-panic.html
GACKT will be there with the rest of the cast to walk the red carpet, so you can in fact see him in person without a ticket. Often the stars on the red carpet will take the time for autographs, time providing.
And I'd like to clear something up here:
"I have known about this possibility for some time and am heart broken the TIFF members bought all the tickets before citizens could try to purchase nay. "
Tickets were available for public buyers. There was no "special" group that got access to tickets. The cinema seats 1200. Tickets were made available to people who bought ticket packages, went online, and stood in line at the public box office. Sorry about the system crashing, but it is a mad crush for everyone trying to get tickets for ALL of the films playing at the Festival. TIFF is a public festival for the audience, not a select few. Anyone who thinks that clearly has not attended the festival.
I am saying this as the TIFF programmer who selected BUNRAKU, if anyone cares to know.
Looking forward to sharing the World Premiere of BUNRAKU with the audience on Saturday night!
Thank you so much for this wonderful article. I'm really hoping this film will show in cinemas in Ireland so I too can enjoy GACKT on the big screen! I'm a huge fan.
ReplyDeleteHis versatility as a musician is amazing, and anyone who wants to get an idea of just how incredible he is as an artist should watch this video:
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xbe581_gackt-saikai-story-sdsn-live-e-r-su_music
Thank you again! I still can't believe it's finally happening! I hope we get to see a lot of pictures from the red carpet!
Great article.
ReplyDeleteWe can't wait to see the movie!
GACKT will defenatelly grasp your hearts!
when and where will the red carpet be at?! & does anyone know if the "rush line" is outside of the ryerson theater..?
ReplyDeletebeautiful!
ReplyDeletecongratulation GACKT san! fighting
Wonderful article! I'm so thrilled that GACKT will be getting some much-deserved western exposure! I've been a fan of GACKT for almost eight years, and have been pretty much alone in my fandom. None of my "normal" friends could ever appreciate his talents, due to the excuse that he's foreign. Many recent media posts about Bunraku have also ignored his involvement in the film. Thank you so much for taking the trouble of researching and writing this blog entry!
ReplyDelete"His songs have appeared in films and video games; to the extent of providing narration and having the main character modeled after him with Bujingai."
ReplyDelete- you forgot Genesis Rhapsodos from Final Fantasy =)
"and now they have their own credit card." - They have had LOTS of personalized credit cards over time XD
"He is a huge fan of Gundam, and did a theme song for the anime." - He did a whole ALBUM for the anime XD, it's called 0079-0088
BTW it's more appropriate if they're called fackts XD
ReplyDelete...for more inspiration check out this thread : http://jrockrevolution.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1330
it has tons of great fackts like : Gackt does not exist, existence gackts.