Here at Story, we receive e-mails from visitors all over the world. Thank you all for visiting the site! Today, we'll share with you some excerpts of questions and answers from the Story mailbag that may be of interest to all our visitors.

From Airyn in France:

I read that Gackt's eyesight is 3.5... Is it means that he has a bad eyesight ?

Story Webmasters:

When Gackt stated in an interview that his eyesight was 3.5, he was presumably referring to the decimal scale for visual acuity. On the decimal visual acuity scale, 1.0 would be the equivalent of 20/20 vision (or 6/6 vision using the metric scale). 3.5 would then be equivalent to approximately 20/6 vision (or 6/1.7 vision on the metric scale), which would mean that Gackt can see detail at 20 feet (or 6 meters) that a normal person could see at 6 feet (or 1.7 meters). In other words, his vision would be extremely sharp.

Given that the maximum visual acuity of the naked human eye is close to 2.0 (20/10 or 6/3) and knowing Gackt, however, he was most likely stretching the truth. :)

From Rád in Hungary:

I read in your site, there is a plan outside Dears members. Do you know when it start?

Story Webmasters:

While Dears has been considering the option of accepting members from outside Japan for quite a few years now, there has unfortunately been no official announcement as to when they might actually be able to do so. You can, however, always send e-mail to Dears expressing your enthusiasm for the possibility of overseas memberships.

Thank you all for all the kind comments you have been sending us through e-mail! (Interested in sending us e-mail? Please see our contact information here.)

In other news, two more photos from the out of print photobook Subarashiki Kana Jinsei have been added to the Photos section! These photos feature Gackt as a cowboy and in Indian inspired costume.

Also, while we are always happy to provide photos of Gackt, please remember to read and follow our image usage policy! Your cooperation is greatly appreciated.

Coming up in our next update: more Gackt news and photos!

Gackt is contributing a new song, "Rara no Yasoukyoku -nocturne-", to the new mini-album by Toru Furuya to be released later this month!

Toru Furuya is a popular Japanese seiyuu (voice actor), who provides the voice of Mobile Suit Gundam's Amuro Ray. You may recall that he was featured on one of the limited edition versions of Gackt's most recent album, 0079-0088 feat. Amuro Ray. This new collaborative effort came about through the friendship that developed between Furuya and Gackt from their work together on Gundam.

Here is the information on Furuya's mini album:

HEROES~to my treasure~
2008.03.26 release
¥ 2625 (tax included)
Catalogue No. AVCA-26693
avex trax

Additional information can be found here (Japanese only).

In other Gackt and Gundam news, an anime music clip featuring "Ai Senshi" from 0079-0088 will be released for download from iTunes as of tomorrow, March 19!

More information is available at the Bandai Channel page (Japanese only).

We also have an update regarding Gackt's non-musical endeavors: new Darkside Inhabitants shops are now open in Ikebukuro Park and Kumamoto Park for a limited time.

March 1 - March 31
Address: Ikebukuro Parco P' Kan B1F, Higashiikebukuro, Toshimaku, Tokyo 171-0013
Phone #: 03-5391-8000
Hours: 11:00 a.m. - 9:00 p.m.

March 10 - April 4
Address: Kumamoto Parco 5F, 5-1 Tetorihonchou, Kumamoto-shi, Kumamoto-ken 860-8584
Phone #: 096-327-4008
Hours: 10:00 a.m. - 8:00 p.m. (8:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday)

As for Story news, we have added two more photos of Gackt from Subarashiki Kana Jinsei to the Photos section! These new photos feature Gackt in Spanish matador and German military inspired costume. Please check them out!

Coming up in our next update: more photos, plus we answer fanmail about Gackt's eyesight!

We have an update regarding Save Our Dears, Gackt's charity!

A special gift of sparkling decorative stickers is currently being offered for those who sign up for the "Dears" and "Save Our Dears" credit cards! These stickers feature Gackt's dog, Eneru, of the popular blog Ashigaru Eneru no Tonosama Nikki. More details can be found here (information in Japanese).

While we focused on updating Story with Gackt's solo musical and published works in the last update, this time we've updated with information on some of Gackt's other projects, such as Save Our Dears.

Visit our Gackt section for information on Save Our Dears, Gackt's charity organization; DARTS [Darkside Inhabitants], Gackt's accessories brand; and S.K.I.N., the new Japanese rock superband Gackt has formed with Yoshiki (ex-X Japan), Sugizo (ex-Luna Sea), and Miyavi (solo artist)!

We have also added the snail mail address and phone number for Dears to our Dears section.

As promised, we have updated the Photos section with two new photos of Gackt! These photos feature Gackt in French-inspired costume from Subarashiki Kana Jinsei. (For more information on Subarashiki Kana Jinsei, please check out the Photography Collections section of our Works list.) We will be gradually adding more photos in upcoming updates, so please check back for more additions!

As we announced in our last update, Gackt's Platinum Box VIII - For my Dears will be released on March 3, 2008, and is currently available for preorder. Preorders are exclusively offered through Amazon.co.jp at a discounted price of ¥ 7251 (compared to the list price of ¥ 9800).

For more information on Platinum Box VIII - For my Dears, such as the DVD content and original gift, please see the Platinum Boxes section of the Works list.


Lastly, if you had difficulty with the desktop links in the Downloads last week, please try them again as all links are back up.

Happy Valentine's Day, and welcome to the new version of Story: the Gackt Fan Web Site!

To commemorate the occasion, we've created an all new Valentine's Day Gackt desktop, available on the Downloads page. :) Please check it out!



There's a lot to cover with this being our first update of Story's relaunch, so let's cut straight to a rundown of the latest Gackt news.

Gackt's 8th Platinum Box is currently available for pre-order! Platinum Box VIII - For my Dears will be released on March 3, 2008 and will include a gift of a USB memory key. This year's video will follow in the footsteps of last time's popular "Let's Do it together! ~Shall we 'Cowboy'??~" and once again feature Gackt challenging the members of his band to accomplish unusual tasks. What will he come up with this time? For more details, please check out the Platinum Boxes section of the Filmography on our Works page.

Gackt's historical Japan themed Official 2008 Goods (including post card sets, stickers, and keychains) are now up - if you enjoyed Gackt in last year's historical drama, Furinkazan, these are definitely worth checking out. The most recent addition is the Commemorative Frame Postage Stamp Sheet. These can be found at Entameposto.

Last month, it was also announced that a new Darkside Inhabitants shop would be opened from January 25 - February 17 at Utsunomiya Parco 1F.

Address: 3-1-1, Babadori, Utsunomiya, Tochigi 3208566
Phone #: +81286112111
Hours: 10:00 a.m. - 8:30 p.m.

For more information on Darkside Inhabitants and their silver accessories line, please visit the "H" Darkside Inhabitants site.

Gackt's Official Desktop Calendar 2008, which retailed for 4725 (tax in) [approximately US $44], closed orders at the end of January. This innovative calendar comes with one calendar frame and 20 photo cards to display in the calendar frame along with a calendar card of the current month.

Now for some Story news!

Because Story is newly updated with a new version of the site, I encourage you to visit each section of the site. :)

• News - Story updates and the latest news on Gackt! You can also peruse older Gackt news updates.
  
• Gackt - The 411 on Gackt and information on Gackt's official fanclub, Dears.
  
• Photos - Our gallery of Gackt photos.
  
• Works - A complete list of Gackt's works from the launch of his solo career in 1999.
  
• Translations - Translations of lyrics from Gackt's music by our own Ryuujin.
  
• Downloads - Gackt downloads made for you by the Story staff!
  
• Extra - Just for fun. :)
  
• Shop - Our Story shop, the funds from which go toward maintaining this site.
  
• Story - About Story and Story's staff, copyright information, FAQ, and contact information.
  
• Links - Link Story or visit Gackt's official sites!

Regular visitors may see the biggest change in the Works section, which has been brought completely up to date with Gackt's discography (albums, singles and singles collections), filmography (music and tour videos, platinum boxes), and bibliography (photo books, tour documents, and other books)! It has everything from Gackt's newest releases (like the 0079-0088 album and the Ryu no Keshin photo book) to his very first solo works. I've even stuck in a bit of trivia here and there in the descriptions, so please take a look. :)

After we announced that we would be resuming work on Story back in last October, a number of you sent us kind and supportive e-mails, so I wanted to say thank you from all of us for your continuing support and enthusiasm for Story! Several visitors also inquired how they might be able to help Story, and as we have always said in the past, it is enough that you're simply visiting our site. :) If you would like to do more to support us, you could spread word about Story by linking our site. Another option is to shop through our affiliates (on the right side of the site and in the sponsors sections of the Links), the links in the Works section, or our Story Shop. Any and all funds we earn from this site are used to help keep the server up and this website running.

Thanks again for supporting us since 2000, and we'll be back in the next update with more Gackt photos!

Dear Story visitors,

We've been hard at work on the new, fully updated version of Story, and we have now set a date for relaunch!

Story will relaunch this Valentine's Day, February 14!

We are looking forward to once again bringing you all the latest in Gackt news and releases, as well as new photos, downloads, and all that other good stuff. Thank you for all your support, and we'll be back on Valentine's!

As many of you may have noticed, it has been over three years since our last official update to Story. With our increasingly busy schedules, it has become increasingly difficult to manage the site, and we have considered closing Story altogether.

In the end, however, we've decided to pick up this project once again, and we'll be working on serving up a new, streamlined Story for the upcoming year, complete with current news updates and plenty of other goodies to go with them.

Thank you for supporting us since 2000, and we'll see you again in 2008!

New Album and DVD!

Gackt released a new album on May 26, 2004, THE SEVENTH NIGHT ~UNPLUGGED~ for 3,150 yen.

Also, a Live DVD will be released on September 15, 2004:
Gackt Live Tour 2004 THE SIXTH DAY & SEVENTH NIGHT~FINAL
5,800 yen (including [Japanese] tax)
Nippon Crown CRBP-10020/21
- DTS 5.1 channel surround sound
- Linear PCM stereo
- Tour final (entire) at Yokohama Arena
- Special package, two discs (main disc 140 min., special music video 80 min.)

New Gackt CD release!

THE SIXTH DAY
CRCP-40055, 3,150 yen (tax in)
This is a collection of previously released Gackt singles. The 14 tracks are:

1. OASIS
   
2. sekirei~seki-ray~
   
3. Secret Garden
   
4. Kimi ga Oikaketa Yume
   
5. Wasurenai Kara
   
6. Tsuki no Uta
   
7. Mirror
   
8. Vanilla
   
9. Mizerable
   
10. Lu:na
    
11. Last Song
    
12. ANOTHER WORLD
    
13. Kimi no Tame ni Dekiru Koto
    
14. Saikai ~Story~

To be released 2/25/2004

As an addendum to the last news post concerning Gackt's promotion of BUJINGAI, the BUJINGAI commercials featuring Gackt can be downloaded at the downloads page of the BUJINGAI Official Site.

More news, posted Wednesday:

Gackt will be featured in a commercial for TAITO's PS2 game, "BUJINGAI." Here are the times the commercial will be aired on Japanese TV:

- TV Asahi, every Wednesday, 19:00~20:48
- TV Tokyo, every Monday, 25:00~25:30 (starting 12/8); and every Saturday, 24:55~25:25 (starting 12/13)

Enjoy.

Catching up on Gackt's newest releases!

(FujiTV Late Night Animation) TEXHNOLYZE Soundtrack CD "MUSIC ONLY MUSIC BUT MUSIC"
PICA-1279, 2700 yen (w/o tax)
(Note: This is not a Gackt album, but Gackt's song, "TSUKI no UTA," is the ending theme to the anime and is featured on the soundtrack. The CD contains the TV version of "TSUKI no UTA." It comes with a special card that, I believe, has a picture drawn by the TEXHNOLYZE character designer Yoshitoshi Abe, as well as Gackt's autograph and comments.)
Released 7/25/2003

DVD VHS "Gekkou"
DVD CRBP-10013, 3000 yen
VHS CRVP-10008, 3000 yen
Released 8/6/2003

DVD "Gackt Live Tour 2003 Jougen no Tsuki ~Saishuushou~Kanzenhan" and VHS "Gackt Live Tour 2003 Jougen no Tsuki ~Saishuushou~"
(Ryuujin's trans. - DVD "Gackt Live Tour 2003 Crescent Moon ~The Last Chapter~ Complete Version" and VHS "Gackt Live Tour 2003 Crescent Moon ~The Last Chapter~")
DVD CRBP-10014, 5800 yen
VHS CRVP-10009. 4800 yen
Released 9/18/2003

MAXI SINGLE "Last Song"
CRCP-10052, 1200 yen
Released 11/12/2003

ALBUM "Crescent"
CRCP-40046, 3000 yen
Released 12/3/2003

MAXI SINGLE "12 Gatsu no Love Song (PEKINGO Version)"
(Ryuujin's trans. - Mandarin Chinese version.)
CRCP-10058, 1000 yen
Released 12/3/2003

DVD "PLATINUM BOX IV"
CRBP-10016, 6800 yen
Release 12/17/2003

Whew. I think we're caught up now. Note that Gackt's newest album is out now, as of Wednesday!