I agree.
But I must say, seeing him slash his ribs in person...
It was pretty intense.
I have friends who cut themselves and hell, I've done it out of pure emotion. Didn't think about it, really.
Kyo doesn't need attention, he gets enough of it as it is, and seeing him do it live, I could tell he was really just showing his pain to everyone..even though some people don't understand. They think he is only doing it as an act, and I have to say I can't agree.
Yeah, actually SEEING him do it in person is extremly compelling and powerful.
People who say it's "an act", "a gommick" or "unauthentic" are just trying to explain away what he's doing so that they don't have to take it seriously. 'Cause if they did then it might actually effect them.
Can't remember if I posted this before but here's something I wrote that's kinda about this subject (it deals with a few other issues as well):
A few years ago, I went to see a Shakespeare play that changed my life. That play was Titus Andronicus. Known for it's gore, over-the-top imagery, plot inconsistencies, and damn near impossibility to perform successfully it's widely considered Shakespeares worst tragedy. However, the production of it that I saw was immaculate and well beyond anything I had seen on stage previously (or after). I went to see that production no less then three times during its run.
Now, all the blood, gore, and the wounds inflicted on the actors and actresses were indisputably fake. No one is going to actually hack off their hand night after night for the sake of "authenticity." However, the emotion these stage acts evoked in the audience was very real.
Was the actress playing Lavinia really raped and mutilated by the Goth Brothers? Of course not. But does that mean the horror and emotional agony both she and the audience feels as she opens her mouth and nothing but blood pours forth isn't real? Once more, of course not. When Lavinia lay at Titus' feet crying and broken did that actress not feel the pain, was she not truly crying and was the audience not genuinely weeping with her? Just because it was a play does not make the emotions it stirred up any less valid then if it were real.
When you watch a film, those actors and actresses were paid to give their performances and doesn't the very fact that they are ACTING make every film a "gimmick"? Is there really such a thing in art as true authenticity?
To hold Dir en grey to this standard of "authenticity" when we do not hold other artists and art forms to it is childish and ridiculous.
Does Kyo really feel the emotions he conveys on stage or not? That's a mute point. It is a performance designed to evoke emotion from the audience, that is it's purpose the purpose of all performing art. It is impossible to give a performance that isn't just the smallest bit contrived, even Improve Actors use rules and blueprints for their acts.
When you watch a funny comedian do you stand up and yell, "HE WROTE THAT!!! IT'S NOT AUTHENTIC!!! IT'S A GIMMICK!!!" Well, of course not because it's understood.
Lyrics, like a play or a comedian's routine, are written long before they are performed. They are tweaked, perfected, and rehearsed just like a play. Such is the way with all performing art.
Are the blood and wounds real?
In return I must ask a question, do you expect Lavinia to really get her actual tongue cut out and her hands sawed off every night for your viewing pleasure? Um, no. The blood that spurts from her mouth, do you expect that to be her real blood? No. So why expect Kyo to always bleed himself dry before you? Yes, he sometimes uses fake blood, what of it? He doesn't use it all the time and you can tell because fake blood, no matter how well crafted, can never look exactly like real blood. And it's really rather hard to fake taking a razor to ones chest or arm and making incisions with it that are open and bleeding.
But even if he were "faking" does it matter? The emotion I feel when I see him do it is real and, in the end, isn't that what's truly important? Isn't the important thing that their message get across and the audience feel that pain themselves?
So yes, Dir en grey is a gimmick just like Titus Andronicus, Silence of the Lambs, The Wizard of Oz, Closer, and Schindlers List are gimmicks. But does that mean they aren't great works of art worthy of remembrance? Absolutely not.
i think it is very worying that he would do that to himself 
![Diru [Ando Daisuke]](/data/avatars/s/16/16666.jpg?1412559903){kind=avatar}
