Psycho le Cemu movieBEST DVD Review

First of all, my biggest complaint is that there are NO chapters in this DVD. So you either watch the entire thing in one go, or sit there and fast forward a lot. And, maybe it was just my DVD player, but if you go over 8x, the DVD just stops and you have to start watching it from the beginning all over again.

Since this is their indies best, expect a lot of handheld camera footage and off-kilter angles from camera men who were, most likely, squished up against fans in the crowd or off to the corners of the stage. It's not bad, but it's definitely not a camera-crane operated, wide-panoramic shot live. All the of the audio is true to the live, so you get to hear DAISHI's performing voice rather than a studio mix, the crowd cheering, etc. Besides shots of the band, the camera pans over a lot of the fans so you can see them doing the furitsuke.

Almost all the live portions have a subtitle at the bottom showing where the footage was taken and when.


2002.12.10 Cafe Le PSYENCE (hide Museum) / HEADWAX ORGANIZATION: MEGATRON
(Risoukyo Ryoukou -Mirai- costumes)
I'm lead to believe that when they used to perform MEGATRON that they used an entire pre-recorded track, had DAISHI singing over it and seek and Lida fake-playing. If you watch Lida during his solo, it almost looks like he's adding a lot of playing flare to look like he's really into playing.

Comment from Spark Up!! VHS tape
(Risoukyo Ryoukou -Kako- costumes)
I think I uploaded this to the community a year or so ago, where the band is against a CG'd backdrop and they're talking about their concept.

Excalibur PV
It's interesting to see this PV in a better quality outside of the video rips most of us have seen of it on the web. Lida's fighting moves rock and the random Roman soldier is always a crack up.

Excerpt of Murderer • Death • Kill
(Risoukyo Ryoukou -Genzai- costumes)
No mention of where this was taken, but the stage is so tiny that the guys are practically running into each other.

Costume Highlight: Risoukyo Ryoukou -Mirai-
There's a brief shot of rough sketches of each costume, then a couple seconds where each person poses for the camera in it. Pretty cool, but mostly close-up shots of their faces.

Excerpt of Murderer • Death • Kill
(Risoukyo Ryoukou -Genzai- costumes)
It looks like it's continued from the previous excerpt. At the very least, the stage seems about the same size.

Comment
(Risoukyo Ryoukou -Kako- costumes)
No idea what they're talking about, but they laugh a lot and AYA is playing with a mini-bullhorn the entire time. At one point, DAISHI asks AYA about something and they edit out his comment with a bell sound. DAISHI says the word "saishuu" a lot.

Spark Up!! MAKING FLASH / Comment / Murderer • Death • Kill
(Risoukyo Ryoukou -Kako- costumes)
"Backstage" type black and white footage of them goofing around/performing while recording footage for Murderer • Death • Kill. AYA and Lida then introduce the song. I do remember uploading this footage as well when I ripped it from the original tape. It's the clip a lot of people mistake for a Murderer • Death • Kill PV.

2000.12.22 Shinsaibashi MUSE: Broker
(Risoukyo Ryoukou -Mirai- costumes)
Back-of-the-live-house footage, but you can get a really good idea of how the furitsuke for this song goes.

Excerpt of Murderer • Death • Kill
(same live as previous)
DAISHI does stage-dive #1. It seriously looked like he almost face-planted 'cause he wasn't on top of the audience for very long. A couple staff members had to help him up and AYA took over chorus vocal duties while DAISHI got back on stage.

2001.3.26 Shibuya On Air West: AYA MC / Justice (excerpt) / TRAP ZONE
(Risoukyo Ryoukou -Mirai- costumes)
AYA takes a picture of the audience and cracks jokes. He also says something that gets bleeped out. Shaky, hand-held camera footage of the songs ensue. You can hear the guitars really well, but DAISHI is pretty much drowned out by the instruments. This is probably one of the more raw live clips. With the lights, shaky camera and their not-perfect sound, you can get a pretty good feel of what it was like to see Psycho when they first started out. AYA makes a lot of noise on his guitar at one point. DAISHI does stage dive #2, much to the surprise of the audience (again, no crowd surfing, just a straight... BOOM! Fly into the crowd). seek follows suit.

Identity excerpt / AYA MC with flying bat toy / Member Intro / Undead Man excerpt
(Risoukyo Ryoukou -Genzai- costumes)
I believe this is also from the Shibuya On Air West live. Ahh, nothing like coordinated headbanging with Lida, DAISHI, seek and AYA on stage.Thankfully, the camera isn't as shaky during this song as it was previously. AYA gets on the mic with a flapping bat toy then hits Lida with it. The band kicks into gear again and AYA introduces all the members where they all get their own mini solo. AYA wears crazily oversided sunglasses during his part. AYA also screams out YURA-sama's name like a fangirl. During Undead Man, DAISHI lifts up AYA's skirt and then gets kicked by AYA for it.

MEGATRON - Upper Version
(Risoukyo Ryoukou -Kako- costumes)
Yes, your chance to try to learn the infamous MEGATRON - Upper Version furitsuke! They never show the audience during this clip, which is probably a good thing since those guys are probably still trying to learn this routine.

MEGATRON - the cosplay version
(Risoukyo Ryoukou -Kako- costumes)
Ah yes, the clip that cracks everyone up. I know for sure I uploaded this guy a while ago where all the guys switch costumes and perform MEGATRON in some outdoor area. AYA dressed as DAISHI (with a blue lightsaber instead of a sword), seek dressed as AYA, DAISHI dressed as YURA-sama, Lida dressed as seek and YURA-sama dressed as Lida. This is from a Like An Edison video. Seeing DAISHI swimming in YURA-sama's costume with the fake nose on never fails to crack me up. Oh! And I didn't notice this before, but there's some homeless guy reading a newspaper in the background, totally oblivious to what's going on in front of him.

2001.04.06 Shinjuku Liquid Room: AREA / AYA MC
(Risoukyo Ryoukou -Genzai- costumes)
An event sponsored by SHOXX magazine (which you can figure out 'cause their logo is huge at the back of the stage). The performance of this is unique because they band slows up the pace and makes it different than the recorded version at one point. The highlight, though, is YURA-sama doing a solo dance number!

2001.04.22 Harajyuku Street Live: MEGATRON excerpt / Murderer • Death • Kill excerpt / Indora no Ya excerpt / AYA MC
(Risoukyo Ryoukou -Mirai- costumes)
Pretty cool seeing them walking around in broad daylight outdoors. They got about a hundred or so fans to come out and see them perform outdoors. The cameraman in this section, by the way, is on crack. I think he was headbanging while shooting.

2001.07.29 Tower Records In-Store Performance: Shikkoku no Gerunika
(PLC Gakuen costumes)
I believe this was an in-store to promote the release the REMEMBRANCE maxi-single.

2001.06.16 Shibuya On Air East: grotesque / REMEMBRANCE
(Doppelganger ~mou hitori no jibun~ costumes)
Mmm... grainy, far right from the stage, worm's-eye-view, bad sound footage. There's nothin' like the indies! Some guy in a Egyptian skeleton mask comes out and fights with DAISHI on stage. DAISHI's sword flames up. Skeletor falls off the front of the stage. DAISHI wins. Good times. At one point during the song, you can see the hands of the guy changing the colored filters on the footlights of the stage. Production budget must've been increased for REMEMBRANCE, though, since the camera is situated at the back of the livehouse, the picture's clear and the sound is 100x better.

Comment
(Risoukyo Ryoukou -Kako- costumes)

The credits come on, but stick around 'cause the best part is...

1999.02.05 / TRAP ZONE
(Self Analysis costumes)
Now, THIS is super duper indies style. I think the livehouse that they're playing at probably holds a total of 50 people and the stage is just big enough to handle three people standing in the front. Watching the audience is fun in this clip: there's one girl at the back that looks like she's convinced her friends that Psycho is a good band, then there's the footage of the infamous gyakudai move done at lives. They repeat the chorus several times to get the crowd going and during one of the later ones, AYA stage dives and DAISHI starts cracking up. He can't get back on the stage from the front because of all the gyakudai-ing girls, so he slides to the back of the audience instead.

Overall, I totally got what I expected and a bit more with the footage that was presented in this DVD. It's great seeing the roots of Psycho before they became a powerhouse within the visual scene. The DVD is currently available to overseas fans through CDJapan.