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Mana (Japanese musician)

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File:Music manasan.jpg

Mana (stage name; real name unknown) is a Japanese musician, famed for his role as the leader and guitarist of the influential visual kei band Malice Mizer. He is renowned for his feminine beauty and stylish crossdressing and is widely considered the creator and figurehead of Japan's Gothic Lolita fashion movement. Mana's most recent project is Moi dix Mois, a solo musical venture.


Background

Mana was born on March 19 in Hiroshima; his year of birth is unknown. At an early age, Mana was introduced to classical music by his parents, who were both music teachers; classical music has remained one of his main musical influences ever since. Typically, Mana’s compositions blend classical music (especially baroque music, featuring pipe organ and harpsichord) with goth and heavy metal music and other more unlikely elements such as French pop music. After graduating from a music school, Mana moved to Tokyo.

Project history

Mana's first bands were Girl'e, a punk band active around 1989-1990, and Matenrou (摩天楼), active 1990-1992. After Matenrou's dissolution in April 1992, Mana and guitarist Közi founded Malice Mizer in August of that year. Mana was the band’s leader, guitarist, chief songwriter, choreographer and overall artistic director. He also founded his own Indie music label, Midi:Nette, on which most of Malice Mizer’s work was released. After the breakup of Malice Mizer in 2001, Mana founded his solo project Moi dix Mois. He composes all of Moi dix Mois' music, writes the lyrics, produces, directs and designs the band’s stage costumes.


In 1999, Mana created his own clothing label, Moi-même-Moitié, which featured two lines of designs named Elegant Gothic Lolita and Elegant Gothic Aristocrat. The label quickly established itself as one of the most coveted brands of the Gothic Lolita fashion scene. Mana continues to regularly appear in the scene's top publication, the Gothic & Lolita Bible, modelling his own designs and giving updates on his various other projects.


In 2002, Mana signed the goth/techno music duo Schwarz Stein to Midi:Nette and went on to produce for them. Despite their growing success, Schwarz Stein split up in March 2004 and Mana has since been looking for new bands to sign and produce.


Most recently Mana has started to branch out internationally by opening his fan club to overseas members (a rarity amongst Japanese musicians) and setting up international distribution channels for his music and fashion. He played his first concerts with Moi Dix Mois outside Japan in March 2005 in Munich, Germany and Paris, France, and he hopes to open a Moi-même-Moitié shop in Europe in the near future.

Public behavior

Mana never smiles or speaks in public. In his rare filmed interviews he whispers into the ear of a band member or confidante, who then relates his words back to the interviewer. Nevertheless, he comes across as witty and charming.


Nothing is known about Mana's private life, although he has said more than once that there is no difference between his stage persona and his real self, and that he wears makeup and women's clothing both on- and off-stage. Mana's hobbies include cooking, anime, video games and Italian horror films. His favourite food is Indian curry, and his favourite colour is deep blue.

Pictorial chronology

Mana's dress style corresponds to major phases of projects he has been involved in. The following gallery contains images of Mana's popular costumes throughout his career.

See also

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