5 Album Flatlays for ILD!

 It's once again time for the summer iteration of the English-speaking lolita fashion community's hallowed LiveJournal holiday! For those who don't know, there is both a winter and a summer International Lolita Day, unofficially celebrated on the first Saturdays of June and December. Most comms host meetups, and even people celebrating solo will usually get dressed up and do something special for themselves. There's really not a huge significance to it, but I think it's a very cute tradition and I love that it's been upheld! 

I didn't end up doing anything for ILD yesterday; I went to a pool party baby shower for my fiancé and I's friends and then saw The Phoenician Scheme with my dad and sister (so good, highly recommend). Both wonderful activities, but they did not lend themselves well to wearing a full coord haha. So I thought I'd play around with my wardrobe today in the spirit of ILD and do a little project I've wanted to do for a while: creating coords based on albums! 

I picked five of my favorite LPs to start with. I'd love to do this project with Spotify or my CDs for more variety, though using my CDs seems sort of like easy mode; they're mostly visual kei, which feels like a cop-out when it comes to lolita styling. Only two of the coords I made ended up being less "my style" and feeling more experimental for me, but they all definitely forced me to look at my pieces in different ways! This was a really fun way to experiment within my own closet, and if you're in a styling rut I highly recommend it!! 

1. Friends by The Bolshoi 

Coord rundown

OP: Kuno:Noku Velveteen Cross OP (2022) 

Socks, nun collar: Moi Meme Moitie 

Arm warmers, fascinator: Atelier Pierrot 

Shoes: Yosuke USA

Jewelry: Etsy, Hot Topic 

I wanted to lean into the tones of the album cover, while also making a nod to the track Sunday Morning with the more religious collar and full leg coverage. I added the fascinator and arm warmers because something seems distinctly "parody of 80's Madonna party fashion" about a ridiculous hairpiece and some lace arm covers. 

"Innocence and lies don't make a perfect match/leave your door unlatched/I know a word can be untrue/and yet still move you." Away, The Bolshoi 

The Bolshoi are, in my opinion, one of the most underrated new wave bands of the 80's. I own all three of their albums (Giants, Friends, and Lindy's Party) and I cannot fathom why they didn't take off. I always wonder if maybe the market was just oversaturated with a similar sound? Even then, I do feel like they're much more inventive lyrically and musically than a lot of bands in their genre. I think my best description of them is if Oingo Boingo and INXS gave birth to a somber version of Willy Wonka. I got this LP on eBay, and I believe I paid $16 for it. It has fully paid itself off at this point on sheer number of plays alone. 

2. Oh Perilous World by Rasputina 

Coord Rundown

OP: Elfie OP by Atelier Pierrot (2019) 

Shawl, necklace: vintage 

Bonnet, gloves: Moi Meme Moitie 

Shoes: Spring Step (eBay)

Ideally I'd be wearing this with black lace tights, but they reaaally didn't photograph well in the flatlay. Mary Todd Lincoln plays a role in this album's internal storyline as the tyrannical queen of Florida following her husband's death, so I drew inspiration from her mourning attire, as well as the anachronistic mix of seasons mentioned in the first track, to create a Victorian mourning-inspired outfit that includes both a cotton summer dress and a velvet shawl. 

"I will give you my red color/to take away your sickly pallor/for you are so very choleric of complexion/please beware the mounting sun and all dejection." 1816 The Year Without a Summer, Rasputina 

My dad is fantastic at most things, and terrible at holding on to Christmas presents until Christmas. A few years ago (when I was still living at home) I was having a really rough week, so my dad asked if I wanted to go record shopping with him and get coffee. I asked on a whim if the record shop had anything by Rasputina, and I think my stomach actually flipped when the clerk said "we just got Oh Perilous World in, it should be in the 'just in' section if you want to look." I couldn't believe my luck; I believe Filthy Bonnet, Melora Creager's record label, only put out about 150 of these LPs, and this one had the original poster included! I about lost my mind, but it was $80 and I was a college student at the time, so I actually left it behind. My dad insisted on getting it for me as a Christmas gift because I couldn't let it go that I'd found it, and then promptly said "I think you should just have it now, don't you?" when we got home. It's one of the most cherished records in my collection and always will be. 

3. Ashes by Christian Death 

Coord rundown

JSK: Rose Cross JSK by Moi Meme Moitie (2025)

Headpiece, capelet, gloves: Moi Meme Moitie 

Blouse: Atelier Pierrot

Jewelry: Malice Mizer merch, Hot Topic

Socks: Metamorphose 

Shoes: Yosuke USA

The cross motifs felt like a no-brainer for Christian Death, maybe even a little bit too on the nose. This album contains a lot of beautiful piano parts contrasted with Christian Death's traditionally deathrock sound, so I wanted to style something really old school Elegant Gothic with the giant Mana-sama heels and excess of Moitie. This would also ideally be worn with lace tights layered under the OTKs, to shield the world from seeing two whole inches of thigh. 

"The antiquity of that one moment/how filthy his shoes had been/and how soon we forget the smell of survival/blanket it with roses and sick tears." When I was Bed, Christian Death 

It's incredible to me that this album came out in 1985, only 3 years after Only Theatre of Pain, simply because the sound is just so different. Only Theatre of Pain is the sound I would argue is most associated with Christian Death; closer to punk than to post-punk or goth, very frantic and disjointed but ultimately danceable. Ashes is much more a piece of art than an album, with uncomfortable noise tracks, babies crying, spoken word, a German lullaby and tinkling piano stringing together what ultimately amounts to about 4 songs. It reminds me a lot more of Sopor Aeturnus than it does of Christian Death, which could be why it's one of only two Christian Death albums in my physical collection. 

4. Darken Your Doorstep, Argyle Goolsby and the Roving Midnight 

Coord rundown 

Skirt: Velveteen Skirt by Baby the Stars Shine Bright (2006) 

Blouse, headpiece: Baby the Stars Shine Bright 

Necklace: vintage 

Earrings: Moitie

Socks: Metamorphose

Shoes: Fluevog (eBay) 

This one was a challenge, and I don't know that I'm 100% satisfied with it, but it was fun to experiment! I don't own a ton of browns or lighter-colored pieces, and I don't ever really style this skirt with anything but black, so I was interested in seeing how it looks with ivory. I'd ideally carry my brown leather satchel purse with this, to tie in the brown and buckles on the shoes. I tried to pull the burgundy velvet in more with the rosary and flower necklace, which I also thought was a nice nod to the track on this album "Rose Grows Red." 

"As I whisper gently/and we both go crazy/strike the root up from the soil/relocate the annoyance/snag my wrist/it leads the way." Rose Grows Red, Argyle Goolsby

I actually purchased this LP (and had it autographed) all the way back in 2018, when I got to go see Goolsby perform solo! It was my first time meeting a celebrity I really admired, and I was completely starstruck. He's genuinely just the most friendly and normal guy, which is the total opposite of his public and stage persona. My fiancé and I emailed him a bit ago to see if he was still offering minister services and would officiate our wedding, and he sent us a personal reply back saying he wasn't offering them due to touring, but that he was happy for us and wishing us the best. I've considered printing and framing that email lol. Hopefully we'll be seeing Blitzkid again when they come through our city this year, we got to see their reunion tour in 2022 and it was a blast! 

5. Conspiracy by King Diamond 

Coord Rundown 

JSK: Good Luck, circa late 90's/early 2000's

Blouse: Peace Now 

Tie: Moitie 

Necklace: Malice Mizer merch 

Earrings: Hot Topic 

Socks: Metamorphose

Shoes: Angelic Imprint 

Headdress: Marble

This JSK cost me $7! Good Luck are definitely a niche "old school ita enthusiast" brand, but they genuinely were making nice-quality pieces considering that they were technically a costume shop. I was really excited to see this pop up on Mercari JP, and considering it cost about as much as a fancy coffee, it was easy to say yes to. I really only ever style it with tights under OTKs and boots or heels to really play up the Mana leg factor, because the skirt on this bad boy is SHORT. I saw somebody online styling it with a white underskirt, which I might need to try. I thought it was a great wild card piece to style for this album, and I definitely leaned into the tacky factor with the coffin earrings, raschel lace and giant pop of red. This is another coord that's a little out of my typical comfort zone. 

"Then let us make you an eternal deal/you will attend to the graves/you'll give us the house back and keep in mind/that we only come here at night!" Sleepless Nights, King Diamond

I always feel like King Diamond as a project is a little more polarizing than Mercyful Fate, if only because the albums are so story-oriented. Mercyful Fate are very accessible if you're into metal; King Diamond feels more to me like you have to both be into metal and have a flare for the dramatic and storytelling to some degree. With his voice in general though, you kind of either love him or hate him. I'm personally into it, but I can see why maybe you wouldn't want to listen to a guy shrieking. I frequently lose bar TouchTunes privileges because of him. 

I had a ton of fun doing these, and I'd like to do more in the future! Music is a big inspiration to me in general, and this is a cool way to use it to mix my wardrobe up a little. Until next time! 

I met KAMIJO! + The Best EGL Cotton Petticoat Tutorial

 I HATE synthetics. Hate, hate, hate them with a burning passion. So, since my pathetic MAM petticoat has finally cotton ratty enough for me to consider putting it out of its misery, I decided that instead of spending $40+ on a new synthetic petti, I was just going to spend $24 and some elbow grease and sew myself one that WOULDN'T make me miserable in the summer. 

Calling it a cotton petticoat might be a little disingenuous; the base of the garment/every part of it that touches my body is indeed cotton, but I DID use organza ruffles and soft tulle on the outside to give it shape. I decided to do this after looking at the way Sheglit does their petticoats, which is essentially a cotton skirt cover with ruffles, with an organza over layer to smooth things out. 

Sheglit's 2021 Bustle Petticoat 

I didn't take process pictures, because I'm horrible, but I wanted to write out what I did in case anyone else is in the market for making a cotton petticoat! I know I personally had a hard time finding info online. 

The finished petticoat right after sewing/steaming 

To make this, all you need to know how to do is sew a basic elastic-waist gathered skirt, gather ruffles, and do French seams. 

After pre-washing and drying my fabric, I set out measuring the cotton skirt that would be the base for this petticoat. I determined I wanted a length of about 15 inches, and then calculated my hem circumference by doubling my largest measurement (my hips). If you're built a little straighter/narrower through the hip area, you can double your waist measurement, but if you have a butt you typically want to do double your hip measurement for the hem and use your hip as your "waist" to avoid the petticoat clinging. This left me with a hem circumference of 84 inches, and a waist circumference of 42 inches. I divided this again into two panels with a hem measuring 42 inches flat, and a waist measuring 21 inches flat. Connecting those two points with a slightly diagonal 17-inch line (2 inches added for waist and hem allowance) gave me my pattern pieces. 

After cutting these pieces out I French seamed them together, folded and ironed the hem, folded and ironed the waistband, and went back to my machine to sew the hem and waist channels. Then it was time for the fun part (in actuality, the worst part): the ruffles. 

I typically wear Gothic, so I didn't want a cupcake-y petticoat. Knowing this, I started my ruffles just shy of halfway down the skirt to create an A-line adjacent shape. There's one small ruffle measuring about 3 inches wide, and then a large one measuring around 6 inches wide. I French seamed lengths of organza together to make the ruffles, hemmed them with a zigzag stitch and a rolled hem, and then finished the raw top edge with an overlock before gathering and straight stitching them to the outside of the cotton skirt. 

After adding the ruffles, I needed to smooth the shape out so that it doesn't show up as lumps under my dresses. For this, I doubled over about two yards of soft tulle net, gathered it down, and stitched it over top of the ruffles. 

After this step, all that's left it to add your elastic and sew the channels closed! I did three small elastic channels as opposed to one large one, because I personally find that it's more comfortable and distributes the weight better. 

This is what the inside looks like (post-wash, ignore the white fluff from the dryer). All French seamed, and only the cotton touches your body! Even with a synthetic layer on the outside, it is significantly cooler and comfier than synthetic petticoats I've worn. 

And here is what it looks like worn under a dress. It might not be poofy enough for some people's tastes, but it's perfect for what I like!

I didn't want to write about it until I wore it for a bit, and my New York trip to see/meet Kamijo was a perfect pressure test. Happy to report after being shoved in a suitcase, crammed into a concert and the subway, and thrown directly into the washer/dryer, it's held up beautifully! I think the dryer actually made it even springier and fluffier haha. As a bonus, here is the photo op I got with Kamijo, featuring the cute Castlevania edit my best friend Megan did for me. The lighting in our venue was AWFUL, she made it so much cuter! 

I was basically a deer in headlights, totally starstruck 

I really can't believe I met him after like 12+ years of fandom, it's surreal. He was amazing live! Sorry to jumpscare you all by putting this at the end haha, but I will say a cotton petticoat is basically ideal for concerts! Combined with cotton bloomers you can basically avoid butt sweat almost entirely. 

Recent Watches

 Long time no post! 

I consider myself a very avid movie watcher. I definitely watched more movies over the Covid-19 pandemic than I do now (working full time will do that), but I still try to make time to do a double feature once in a while! 

I actually saw the 2024 Nosferatu in theaters twice; once after Christmas with my friends, and again a few months later with my fiancé and his best friend. I absolutely loved that movie, it's everything I want in a classic horror remake! I think the contrast in Orlok's characterization when compared to Herzog's 1970's version, or even the original, is really fascinating. Herzog's Orlok feels simpering and pathetic to me, someone who is desperate for love and attention. Eggers' Orlok combines sexuality with disgust to create a character that is both commanding and repulsive, and I think that play on the titular character makes his whole take on the story feel fresh and interesting. 

That's the only movie I've seen in theaters this year (so far), but I've watched a lot of movies at home! They haven't all been winners, but I wanted to talk about some of my favorites. 

Dellamorte Dellamore (1994) 

I can't stop thinking about this movie, and I don't know that I ever will. I watched it in Italian maybe a decade ago, but rewatched the dubbed version again with my fiancé last night... and the whole story finally clicked for me. 

SPOILERS AHEAD: my theory is that Franco and Francesco are the same person (I know, duh). Franco Dellamore works as a civil engineer for a corrupt mayor, feels trapped in his relationship with his wife, and feels like he's nothing but a walking wallet for his college-aged daughter. This is exemplified by the character She and the times she appears throughout the film. I think he had an affair with his secretary (She in the real world), felt overwhelmed with guilt and killed his daughter and wife, and then attempted to kill himself... but he missed (the same way he misses She's brains the first time he shoots her, and the reason it's emphasized that you have to hit the head throughout the movie) and put himself in the coma we see him in near the end of the film. The entirety of the movie is Franco Dellamore's guilty psychosexual fever dream, where he creates a new sexy persona (Francesco Dellamorte) to compensate for his feelings of emasculation and the notion that his sexuality (having an affair with She and committing the murders of his wife and daughter) caused his life to fall apart. He is simultaneously running from his guilt, and begging someone in his dream to hold him accountable for his crimes. 

I think that if Francesco Dellamorte is Franco's Superego, Gnaghi is his Id. Gnaghi is the anchor that tries to keep his brain alive (keep the dead leaves from blowing away) and represents his base instincts (eating, sleeping, joy, the grossness of human life) while Francesco runs around murdering people, reading the phone book, having sex with the trauma ghost of his affair partner and evading the police. Francesco speaks to Franco on the phone and justifies his crimes, saying that he's finally free, while Gnaghi tries to signal that what he's doing is wrong. 

Dellamorte Dellamore (I refuse to call it Cemetery Man, that title is in no way indicative of what this movie actually is) has definitely earned a spot among my favorite films, and I'm so happy I decided to give it another watch! 

The Vourdalak (2023) 

Took me long enough to watch this one! This is another movie that became an immediate 10/10 for me. Everything about it is visually stunning, and it was the most elegant take on gender and sexuality I've seen in recent history. The vourdalak sucking on their shrouds is also one of the most unsettling things I've EVER seen in a horror movie; it sounds innocuous, but the uncanny valley factor of the puppet combined with the sound effects of the sucking is genuinely horrifying. It's the most perfect version of the "came back wrong" trope, combined with insightful commentary on hypermasculinity, repressed sexuality and familial love. 

The Dead Don't Die (2019) 

I guess when you're Jim Jarmusch, you can kind of start phoning it in and do whatever you want. This is not to say I didn't like the movie; I actually kind of loved it. Jim Jarmusch assembled all his favorite actors and basically played with them like action figures for an hour or two, and it was riveting. But it's such a completely absurd movie that any attempt to analyze it makes you sound like a giant pretentious ass, so I'm not even going to try. 

Batman (1989) and Batman Returns (1992)

Personally, I think we should hand total creative control of Batman IP over to Tim Burton, because nobody has ever done it better than him. I grew up very into DC Comics, but I wasn't able to fall in love with Batman as an adult until I saw these. Burton somehow captured everything that was great in Adam West's Batman, but contrasted it with Brutalist and Art Deco architecture and the signature Burton macabre vibe to create a wholly new product that feels truer to the comics than any other adaptation. The costuming, set design, makeup and performances are all so incredible, but the stories are really what got me. I really appreciate that the conflicts are so small-scale: the whole world isn't at stake, it's just one horrible little city that might not be worth saving anyway. That to me is the core of Batman, one rich kid with a hero complex fighting a Sisyphean uphill battle to save a place that, while awful, is his home. 

That's all for now! If you have any theories about Dellamorte Dellamore, PLEASE comment them. I feel like I'm still piecing the whole thing together! 

Sex, Robots, and Fear of Adulthood: Exploring Lychee Light Club

"Do you understand why the Hikari Club boys wear gakuran and insert German into everyday conversations? Do you understand why it isn't simply fashion, or cosplay? Do you know what it means to put on a play in the 80s, with a group of people that go out of their way to wear gakuran?" - Tsunekawa Hiroyuki, December 17, 2015.

I first heard the title Lychee Light Club thrown around about a decade ago, usually in the same breath as No Longer Human by Osamu Dazai. While Dazai has gotten mainstream acclaim for his work, Furuya's manga adaptation of Lychee Light Club still remains so underground that I had to special order it online from a Canadian publisher who printed too close to the bottom margin of the page. Naturally, as I do with all obscure works of media, I've latched on to the Light Club in all its forms and done some online digging... and I've found so much to talk about! Strap in and turn your screen brightness down to avoid eye strain, because there are a LOT of words coming at you.

What Is Lychee Light Club?

In its most popular form, Lychee Light Club is a manga by Usamaru Furuya, about a group of middle school boys led by the charismatic, iron-fisted (and, in the original work, iron-codpieced) Zera. Zera and his friends/lovers/disciples meet in an abandoned warehouse after school to play chess, scheme, have illicit underage gay sex, and build a robot powered by lychee fruits that will help them kidnap girls their age and build an ideal world free from the drudgery of adult life. The manga is beautifully drawn and written, with a lot of turns of phrase that stuck with me despite their limited character count. However, the manga had an oft-forgotten predecessor: a production unlike any other.

The original Lychee Light Club was a stage play, put on in 1985 by the short-lived theater troupe Tokyo Grand Guignol. There is no video recording of the show, and there is one audio recording, which is in the possession of Tsunekawa Hiroyuki, the actor that played Zera. Denpa Archives translated a blog post from a defunct Japanese blog with a summary of the play, which is essentially the only account of it that still exists. Notably, the production described has a few key differences: in the original play, the boys did not engage in homoerotic trysts as a way to stave off adulthood, but rejected any sexuality at all and instead wore iron chastity belts. Jaibo, who you could argue is the antagonist in both works, is motivated not by love but by pure hatred, a cold detachment opposite his passionate declaration of love for Zera in the manga.

What Was Tokyo Grand Guignol?

To talk about Tokyo Grand Guignol, we need to give a brief run-down on the original Grand Guignol. The Theatre du Grand-Guignol was a French production company that operated out of a converted chapel, and sat 293 people at maximum capacity. The intimate setting and Gothic architecture gave way to a new form of theater, featuring gory and shocking stories interspersed with slapstick comedies, and audiences so close to the stage that they might be hit with the errant drop of fake blood. The Grand Guignol ran shows until shortly after World War 2, and the location is now home to the International Visual Theater.

Some of the cast of the TGG show, courtesy of Denpa Archives

Tokyo Grand Guignol, then, is an homage to the violent, bloody and irreverent Grand Guignol of Paris, carrying on the tradition of Naturalist theater by dissolving the divides between actor and audience. Despite the mark left by this troupe on Tokyo's art scene, only four documented plays were ever put on in Tokyo Grand Guignol's history, of which Litchi Hikari Club was the third. The troupe was founded by experimental artist Norimizu Ameya (who would go on to play Jaibo in Litchi Hikari Club) in collaboration with horror manga author Suehiro Maruo (who famously authored and illustrated the pioneering ero-guro manga Shojo Tsubaki, aka The Girl from the Freakshow), who both prioritized a sort of punk-adjacent DIY ethos with a focus on audience interaction and immersion. Suehiro's manga Shojo Tsubaki was adapted for the screen by Hiroshi Harada, who staged guerilla screenings of the movie with a distinctly TGG feeling; mazes leading to rooms with actual circus sideshow performances, secretive ticket distribution, and fully immersive sound effects and settings, creating a truly unique experience that cannot be replicated via DVD distribution. TGG shows were allegedly much the same, with stripped-down sets, gaudy makeup, and lines being shouted over a booming soundtrack of Devo, Public Image Ltd, and the noises of torture and industrial machinery.

What Is The Meaning of Lychee Light Club?

The story I've outlined so far is surrealist, uncomfortable, and distinctly odd - and believe me, it is all of that and more. But at its core, Lychee Light Club is a story about the enduring nature of fascism, the radicalization of young men in our modern age, the growing gender divide between young men and women, and the microcosm of cruelty and paranoia that groups of teenagers can breed. There are a few key points I'd like to outline that I think give way to a deeper understanding of both iterations of the work:

1. Ero-guro in Japan

"Ero guro nansensu" (erotic gore nonsense) was popularized in Japan's Showa era, which was approximately around The Great Depression in America. This term referred to stories by authors like Edogawa Ranpo (a Romanized pen name meant to sound like Edgar Allan Poe) and art by Ukiyo-e painters that drew erotic scenes of crucifixions and beheadings. This genre was akin to the British penny dreadful, and was highly censored and suppressed during WW2, but emerged as simply "eroguro" and was popularized again after the war. The genre now takes on highly erotic or pornographic elements, and an air of decadence and excess, contrasting beauty and sexuality with disgust and decay, rotting flesh, bodily fluids and dismemberment. A few bands under the visual kei genre umbrella, such as gulugulu and THE GALLO, have taken on the term "eroguro" to describe their lyrics and aesthetics.

In Lychee Light Club, the erotic elements are inherently grotesque, horrific, and uncomfortable, much like the use of body horror from directors like David Cronenberg. 13 and 14-year old boys committing sexual assault with metal pipes, stripping and murdering a teacher, and engaging in manipulation via sex is not meant to be sexually arousing to the reader, but to link sex to violence. This is further driven home by the boy's fear of adulthood and use of chastity belts in the play; sex is a gateway to adulthood, and is therefore something shameful and evil, a tool to inflict violence as (in their minds) adults have inflicted violence upon them, their town, and their futures.

2. The gakuran uniform

I mean, even a surface level glance at the gakuran could tell you a lot about why this was chosen for the members of our Light Club. To be perfectly frank... it looks like a Nazi SS uniform, and that's because they share the same source material: Prussian military uniforms.


The gakuran in its earliest form, circa 1870, consists of a flat military cap, a standing-collar shirt and jacket, and matching pants. It was designed during a time when Japan was becoming increasingly militarized, and was meant to encourage strong militaristic values in the young men of the era. But, as Japan became Westernized, the gakuran in its fullest form (namely, with the hat) fell out of fashion, often being replaced with a blazer and tie for high schoolers.

So then, as Tsunekawa asked in his quote at the beginning of this post: do you understand why the boys of the Light Club wear gakuran?

The gakuran with the cap was worn by the performers of Lychee Light Club in the 1980's, a time when this iteration of the uniform would have been seen as an outdated relic of a more militaristic time. The cap and white gloves worn by Zera, who in the manga is told that he has "a black star over him that not even Adolf Hitler had," paints a clear parallel to an unstable dictator. Furthermore, boys about to go into high school, yet clinging to their gakuran in its most old-fashioned form, signifies the boys' refusal to enter the world of adulthood and the decrepit, outdated nature of the manufacturing town they live in. When combined with the garish makeup worn on stage, the effect is one of a ghoulish arrested development, a lost child and an undead fascist all at once.

3. The robot and Kanon

The character Kanon, the young girl kidnapped by the robot Litchi, went by the name Marin in the stage play. I'll be referring to her as "Kanon" when talking about both iterations for the sake of clarity, but I wanted to call out her original name here!


First off, we'll talk about the nominal Lychee/Litchi, the robot built out of scraps and human body parts that serves as the great purpose of the Hikari Club boys. Litchi is controlled via a calculator, and is given consciousness via the command "I am human." Zera states that there is fundamentally no difference between a robot and a human, because all human beings are is logical collections of moves, like a chess set.

I know, what a pretentious little dickhead.

Litchi, the robot, defies this, proving himself to be more human than the actual people who built him. With Kanon, the kidnapped girl, he learns to love, remember, and eventually defy the cruelty of his makers.

Kanon is the character that brings down the house of cards built by Zera, and is the Madonna to the whore of... basically every other woman in the play and manga. Kanon, originally just a representation of the ideal girl, sits upon a rusted-out throne for most of the story. She pretends to sleep all day, but interacts with the robot Litchi at night, singing with him and telling him stories. Kanon and Litchi fall in some semblance of love, and her love undoes his programming and makes him a human being. We don't get much background on Kanon, but she seems cooly detached for the entirety of her stay in the Light Club hideout, with Litchi being the only person or thing to arouse emotion in her. She, in turn, is the only female character to arouse anything other than hatred in the boys; they sexually assaulted one of the group's younger sisters with a metal pole in the manga, and abuse and murder their teacher in both versions. Where other girls and women are treated with disgust, the boys treat Kanon with a mixture of arousal, awe, and disbelief, making Litchi a target for their ire and hatred when Kanon falls for him.

The manga, though, gives Litchi and Kanon a happier ending than the stage play. In the manga, Kanon and Litchi get to speak one last time, and Kanon escapes as the warehouse becomes a watery grave for the members of the Light Club.

The play, however, allegedly ended as follows:

When the lights return, Litchi sits in the center of the stage, lifeless. Marin (Kanon) is lying in his lap with a strange hat on her head. Zera stands behind them, seeming to live on forever.

Zera: "I will stand here and watch. I will stand here and watch as our machine named Litchi slowly rusts away. I will watch this so-called Marin rot away until she is nothing but bones. Gentlemen... Bohren! Beginen!"

Zera takes out his whistles and tweets. The sheets strung up behind him fall. A number of stepladders are revealed, with the Hikari Club members sitting on them and shining lights on each other's bloody faces. The stage slowly goes dark amidst the strong sound of caning.

4. The lychee fruits

Zera is obsessed with a few things: Emperor Elagabalus of Rome, chess, and Yang Guifei, a princess and imperial concubine who favored lychee fruit. Yang Guifei is one of two women mentioned favorably throughout the story, three if you count the queen chess piece. The robot Litchi, despite being referred to as male, is also referred to as the Queen piece of the Light Club (with Zera being the Black King), and runs solely on lychee fruit. The monster as a cultural body being a reflection of taboo cultural desires, showcases the boys' hopes and dreams; their desire for women and hatred of them in tandem, their sexual desire and hatred for each other, and their search for meaning. The lychee fruit represents femininity, but also eternity; it represents that the thing that destroys them is simultaneously the thing that saved them, that granted their wish for a life free from adulthood.

The lychee, grown in a local dump in the manga, also represents the loss of their shared dream, and the loss of hope in their bleak industrial town. Niko and Tamiya, manipulated by Jaibo, are framed for burning down the lychee field that Zera carefully cultivated. This is a turning point in the story, where Zera feels his control begin to slip, and realizes his shoddily constructed ideal is slipping through his fingers. In this way, Jaibo cements his place as Zera's trusted advisor, alienating him further within their already alienated circle, and sets the stage for the final stand of the Light Club.

5. The use of German

The Hikari Club speaks in broken German phrases, both in the play and the manga. This is intentionally alienating for the reader and viewer of the play, so much so that the translator of my copy of the manga did not translate these phrases to retain their effect. Aside from the obvious reference to Nazism, speaking German serves to both alienate the boys from their other classmates, and create a shared language within their group. The speaking of German designates an "in" crowd and an "out" crowd, creating a shared dialect within their microcosm that further serves to isolate them.

Whose Light Club Is It, Anyway?

The following is a statement made by Tsunekawa Hiroyuki on December 17, 2015.

"Usamaru-kun reached out to me. Apparently, Ameya Norimizu strongly pushed for Hikari Club to be published as an original work, rather than a derivitive one. That sounds like something he'd do. Neither the publisher nor Usamaru-kun had the intention of marketing Hikari Club as an original work."

Both in the story and in real life, there's a lot of contention surrounding the intellectual property of Lychee Light Club. Though Furuya allegedly tried to market Lychee Light Club as a derivative work, giving credit to TGG, Ameya, leader of the troupe and the actor that played Jaibo (ironically, the betrayer of the Light Club) pushed for it to be sold as an original work. The real-life Zera, as you can see, was not happy about this, nor about their work being introduced to the mainstream via a poorly received movie and anime adaptation. "The movie, Lychee ☆ Hikari Club is an adaptation of Furuya Usamaru's Our Hikari Club, right? That I understand. Bokura(Our Hikari Club) is Usamaru's world. Litchi Hikari Club doesn't ring a bell anymore. The original cast and our history of theater has been removed from the Hikari Club name. First it was Death Note, then it was Litchi. More and more underground works are being diluted and adapted into silly movies that are popular for a while, then forgotten when the audience gets bored. I hate that kind of mass media."

In the manga, there are similar contentions surrounding who the "leader" of the Light Club really is. The Club worships Zera like a dictator, taking his word as law and often chanting his name like a psalm. At least two of the boys are in love with Zera, and he clearly relishes in the power. However, as we read, we learn the Light Club originally belonged to Tamiya, Kaneda, and Dafu, and was simply a place for these friends to spend time together. Zera was brought in early on, and with the help of Niko and Jaibo (who kind of just came out of nowhere), he succeeded in overtaking the club through sheer force of charisma, making the others obey through peer pressure and torture.

The question remains: who was the real leader? Who owns art once it becomes mainstream? Is your art still yours, when the meaning becomes diluted? Can anything shared ever be owned?

I loved Lychee Light Club, loved it enough to type out a short essay on it using an iPhone keyboard (please excuse the formatting issues). Part of me hopes it gets more widespread popularity... but part of me really hopes it doesn't.

Sources

I'm not going to type an actual bibliography, because this is my blog and not an essay. However, I do want to call out and specially thank the websites I used as sources outside of my copy of the manga and Mel Gordon's Theater of Fear and Horror.

For information on the production Lychee Light Club, including photos and a soundtrack, visit: https://denpaarchive.neocities.org/litchi

For information on Tokyo Grand Guignol, including a script, visit: https://mutantfishproductions.com/misc.htm

For information on gakuran uniforms and their tie to Japanese militarism, visit: https://www.journal.media-culture.org.au/index.php/mcjournal/article/view/1041

The Grail to End All Grails: JPG's Antique Doll Bag

 I've never considered myself to be a "purse person," but this bag is (and has always been) the exception. I first saw it when I was 12, in the Phaidon "Gothic and Lolita" coffee table book, and it has bewitched me ever since. 

Image from the sold out listing on Women's History Museum 

Again, I am not a purse person, so I've never been to clear on how to research the origins of a bag. Every source I've found has this bag tagged as being from the 90's, but I wish I could find details on a specific year or collection! From what I've seen, it came in a few different styles including a handbag, a tote, and a crossbody, and I've seen a red, a green, and a black colorway pop up. Most street snaps, including the one that made me fall in love with this bag (pictured below) include what is either the green or the black/white color way, but after seeing the red, I think that's the one that has captured my heart completely. 

From Phaidon's Gothic and Lolita, the snap that started it all for me. 

From J-Rock Groupies, there she is again! This one is definitely green. 

From a Mercari listing I'm eyeing. Something about the red background is just perfect, and I love the shape and the buckles. 

Of course, as a child, I was unable to drop $200 on a luxury purse. However, as an adult who makes some ill-advised financial choices in the name of collecting, I've started seriously considering biting the bullet and buying it when I see it come up used. The problem that has arisen, though, is that it has been snatched from my cart every single time I have the money for it and muster the courage to press "checkout!" 

This has happened twice on ClosetChild and once on Wunderwelt; before I can even hit the checkout button, I get an error message and the bag is gone, spirited away into the night. Do the powers that be just REALLY want to prevent me from spending a silly amount of money on a purse? Currently, I'm thinking I might just buy one of the Mercari listings I've been looking at. I typically try not to make a shopping service order unless I'm buying multiple items, but this bag makes me willing to eat the shipping cost. This year seems like the time to buy, because I'm looking for a more practical handbag to take on a few trips; my usual bag is my Moitie trunk, but it's massive, unwieldy, and hard to carry around when doing activities. I also own a BtSSB mini heart purse and a Captain Chris pochette, which are both equally impractical (what is with me and silly novelty purses?). 

A purse of this caliber is definitely an "investment," but I don't want to just buy a "placeholder" bag that I can use in the meantime/I would rather spend money on the bag I REALLY, really want. Which is all to say: if you see me walking around with this Gaultier bag in the future, please know that it was a long time coming.

Tag: Get To Know My Blog

 I was tagged by my dear friend Mika (cashmerecrypt) in this post, and I am DELIGHTED that these tag posts are coming back!!! I was around for the DeviantArt and blog memes (remember when "meme" was used to mean written tag posts almost exclusively?), but was too young to actually participate. This is just another part of our small friend group's quest to bring back early 2000's visual kei internet, and I for one love it so much. 

Why did you start blogging in the first place?

I started blogging so that I had a place to put all my thoughts! I am very "academic brained" after four years of English major media analysis, and I was lamenting that I no longer had a reason to write essays. Having a blog lets me do media analysis in a more casual way, and share my hobbies and photos! I don't love social media, but I do love having my own little space on the internet. 

What platform are you using to manage your blog and why did you choose it?

I use Blogger! I wanted to try Neocities, but after learning some rudimentary HTML and giving it my best shot, I realized I probably should just switch to a pre-made platform. I would still love to create a Neocities site in the future, though! 

Have you blogged on other platforms before?

I had a Tumblr, though I'm unsure if that counts? I used Wordpress for a college class where my professor had us writing book reviews in a blog-style format, so needless to say, that kind of put me off of Wordpress lol. I'm not a tech person, so Blogger is fine for me! It does exactly what it needs to do. 

How do you write your posts? For example, in a local editing tool, or in a panel/dashboard that’s part of your blog?

I use the Blogger post thing, which is so incredibly annoying to use via phone. 

When do you feel most inspired to write?

There's zero rhyme or reason to it, sometimes I go a month without wanting to and then make three posts in as many days. 

Do you publish immediately after writing, or do you let it simmer a bit as a draft?

Again, zero rhyme or reason. It happens how it happens! My writing for work is so regimented, my blog is a place for me to do the exact opposite. 

What’s your favourite post on your blog?

Probably my media analyses, my first post ever was on Godchild/The Cain Saga and I had a lot of fun with it! I'd like to do some better and more in-depth ones in the future, I feel like the media posts I have up now aren't particularly insightful and sort of just a way to get my thoughts down. 

Any future plans for your blog? Maybe a redesign, a move to another platform, or adding a new feature?

MORE OUTFIT POSTS, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD. I constantly forget to take outfit photos! I'd also like to do better, more in-depth media analyses, but also more low-effort fun posts like inspiration photo dumps. 

I don't have anyone to tag, but PLEASE do this too and tag me in it! 

What Have I Worn Lately?

 I'm absolutely horrible about remembering to take outfit photos, but here are a few mirror shots of some outfits from the last month or two! Sorry for my makeup products in some shots; I don't have a vanity or dedicated space to do my makeup, so I do it sitting on the floor and store my products in a bin. They inevitably end up strewn around, though. 

We live in a beautiful and very small house, so the room where I get ready is also my sewing room, my work from home office, and my fiancé's music/recording room. We just finally accepted that we weren't using it as a dining room, so we cleared the dining set out to make it easier for it to do triple duty! 

I wore this to stay in on a Saturday and play Corpse Party on my Switch (Yuuya Kizami is my favorite character, I'm not taking any criticism and you can't change my mind). 

Slip, cardigan: thrifted 

Turtleneck: Everlane

Belt: hand-me-down from my grandma 

Other accessories: Metamorphose, Vivienne Westwood, Hot Topic, Thrifted, Moitie 

This was an outfit to help my fiancé's band load their van and set up the merch table pre-show. I planned to stay for the show, but the venue was FREEZING, so I went home and ate the long chicken Burger King sandwich with my cats. I can die happy now that I have a velvet Baby skirt. 

Top, vest: thrifted 

Skirt: Baby, The Stars Shine Bright

Accessories/tights: Vivienne Westwood, handmade, Hot Topic, Target 

I wore this to get tea and spend time with Mika and Sierra a few Sundays ago. The weather was beautiful, we had a delicious high tea, looked through the book Japanese Schoolgirl Inferno, and watched the new Madman's Esprit video together after taking some photos. 

Blazer: thrifted and customized 

Skirt: handmade 

Necklace, blouse, socks: Metamorphose 

Headdress: BtSSB

Jewelry: Moitie, vintage 

Purse: Moitie 

Shoes: Yosuke

I wore this on a date to the mall with my fiancé, we wanted to play mini golf and weirdly one of the only indoor mini golf places around is in a mall? It was really cool to see the mall thriving though, turns out they have a trading card market on Saturdays! 

Top: h.NAOTO Blood 

Skirt: Marble 

Choker, headband: handmade 

Jewelry: Vivienne Westwood, Malice Mizer merch, Hot Topic, Moitie 

Legwear: Metamorphose, Target

Shoes: Angelic Imprint 

I wore this to go to Barnes and Noble solo one Sunday, I just needed to get out of the house. I ended up buying the short story collection 50 Beasts to Break Your Heart by Gennarose Nethercott, I can't recommend that book enough if you're a fan of magical realism! 

Blouse: Black Peace Now 

Cardigan: h.NAOTO Frill 

Skirt: Emily Temple Cute (altered from a JSK into a skirt by me) 

Legwear: Meta, unknown offbrand tights 

Headband: handmade 

Jewelry: Vivienne Westwood, Moitie, Malice Mizer merch 

Rats all, folks! I'm really going to try to get better at taking coord photos this year. Even though I don't wear full lolita coordinates every day, I do mix my pieces into my casual wardrobe on most days, which results in a lot of cool outfits.