And they need the second guitarist!

I love this song though not so many reactors react to it!! ❤

We love Nemophila as well. They are great when they rock hard and with softer ballads. Thank you for taking the time to view and engage. Much appreciated!

Thank you for the kind words and the ongoing support, JM! MUCH appreciated! 🙏

Still, must have been an awesome experience! Thank you for taking the time to view and engage. Much appreciated!

Kensuke Akiyama said that he hasn't worked with Nemophila since they went to four members but that he'd like to work with them again. That's not the same thing as saying he no longer has any association with Nemophila. As a practical matter, he may never work with them again, but that's not what he said, and actually he still had Nemophila listed in his twtr description the last time I looked. I've noticed a tendency in English-speaking y t commentary to claim that a Japanese band or musician are or said something that they never stated they are or said. The best example re Nemophila is the claim by some Western Nemo fans that Mayu Session was only meant to exist for a few gigs then be done. No member of Nemo has ever said that, and in fact at or the day after each of their earliest (2019) club shows they would announce the date for the next show, indicating that those shows were pre-booked, as one doesn't snap one's fingers and book club gigs, especially in an extremely busy and competitive market like Tokyo-or an appearance at a metal fest (Metal Weekend, Sept. 2019)-in an instant, based on a whim that a temporary unit just might stay together.

@@otobokegaijin6218 Let me see if I understand. Are you saying that my statement that Kensuke is no longer associated with Nemophila is false because he hopes to renew his association in the future?? In my humble opinion, he is saying very clearly that he is no longer associated with Nemophila, and, as you say, he may never be again. Regarding the forming of Nemophila, the band's own website says that they "started out as a session band in August, 2019". Here is also a quote from Saki - "She [Mayu] asked me to play a session with her, for one time only. We got together at Mayu’s session in August of last year and we quickly found out that this was going to be a good band, so we simply decided to start a band." So, yes, the original intent was to bring together a session band for a one time performance. They quickly decided to become a permanent band, but that does not negate Mayu's reason for bringing them all together.

@@danw6048 Let me put it this way: Akiyama didn't say he's "no longer associated with Nemophila", you did. He may in fact never work with them again, but you don't know that, and you made a comment that is simply not supported by any statement that anyone involved has made. Such comments about Japanese bands and musicians are regrettably common on y t. Akiyama and Tamu and Hazuki and Hara have all said they'd like to work together again. Maybe they will, maybe they won't, I hope they do, but meanwhile not one of them has said there is "no longer any association" between him and the band. As for Mayu Session, Saki was asked to help get the band ready for its first gig. Initially it wasn't the intention for Saki to join them on the bandstand. Then it was decided to have her do so. Here some context is obviously needed to help you understand. It’s not known among Nemo’s non-Japanese fans (other than the few I've told about it), but it wasn’t Mayu herself who got Mayu Session together. Mayu was the youngest, least experienced of the group, and in Japanese culture and certainly in the Japanese music industry (which is socially very vertically oriented even by Japanese standards) she wouldn’t have had the clout or the gumption to form the unit, name the unit after herself, and book the early gigs. There was a guy called Ryo Fujio, a musician and producer, including at the Naon no Yaon female rockers’ fest, who took an interest in Mayu after she left the band Lipstick in April 2019, who put Mayu Session together in the summer of 2019, thought of the “Mayu Session” name, gave them rehearsal space, handled the logistics and equipment, and booked all the gigs through their first “one-man” concert the following February at the Shibuya Rex theater. (He got mittan of Show-Ya-he was friends with the Show-Ya members and had backed them at shows before-to fill in on drums for Tamu at that concert, as Tamu was on maternity leave.) Fujio brought Tamu and Saki, both of whom he knew from Naon no Yaon (he helped Saki put together the Guitar Girls Collection event at NnY), into Mayu Session. Fujio is the guy that Mayu and Saki refer to as a “mutual friend” in interviews-they never mention his name. Saki was brought in by Fujio, who respected her as a musician, not to be a member but to get the band ready for its first club gig. It wasn't anticipated that Saki would join MS on the bandstand, but during rehearsals it was decided to add her. Fujio was present at all of MS/Nemo's early shows. I saw him at their second ever show, Sept 5, off to the side of the bandstand. Fujio is mentioned in the Japanese-language wiki on Nemo (with an interesting source, though in Japanese) but not the English-language. Fujio disappeared from Nemophila’s life after the Feb. 2020 concert, possibly because he was acting too much like an impresario and was too controlling, and there may have been financial (and possibly legal) considerations too-with Saki’s and Tamu’s connections in the music industry Nemo likely concluded they didn’t need an impresario and a further split of any income. That's speculation, but the fact is that Fujio disappears Nemo-wise in early 2020-Nemo essentially wrote Fujio out of their historical narrative, which is why he is never mentioned by name in their interviews and is unknown to non-Japanese fans. (Btw, Fujio still works at Naon no Yaon, and he was the one who produced the Tamu-vs-Yoyoka drum battle at the 2022 NnY.) And as for Saki's quote you give, yes, the intention was for Saki to work with the band for one session. But no member of Mayu Session has ever said that MS itself was only intended to last one show. I've read at least 10 of their Japanese-language interviews and nothing along those lines has ever been stated. What they say is that initially Saki was to be involved in only the first gig, not that there would only be one MS gig period. Also, there is nothing inherently limited with a "session band"-it can play as many gigs as it wants and can book. The Mayu Session name is largely irrelevant anyway, as at the end of the second show they announced their name change to "Nemophila" and "Mayu Session" was history. The name "Mayu Session" was intended to be short-lived, not the unit itself. Finally, as I said before, there's simply no way the early MS/Nemo bookings, in the summer and autumn of 2019, including the Metal Weekend fest, could have been made if it was anticipated that MS would not last beyond its first show. It's obvious the intention from the beginning was to stay together as a unit.

@@otobokegaijin6218 If it helps to clarify, I will change it to there is no longer a professional association. Other than that, I am no longer going to get into a semantics argument with you on the current status of Kensuke. Anyone who has had the unfortunate luck to read this back and forth between us can decide on their own. Regarding Ryo Fujio, I have never heard of the guy. You are right, I have never read any mention of him in articles and interviews with Nemophila. I have, however, read this interview - "My understanding is that the band was originally supposed to be a one-off session as the “Mayu Session Band”. How did the five of you come together for that? mayu: At first I was saying ‘I want to start a band…’, so I contacted Hara-chan… our bassist Haraguchi-san, who was my friend from school. I invited Haraguchi-san and at first we found Tam-san by magazine and website posts and asked if she wanted to join our band. We got talking, and I can’t play guitar well, so we were introduced to Saki. Saki-san introduced us to Hazuki-san, and that’s how we all met. What was the deciding factor that made you all decide to form as an official band? Tamu: We felt like we all had a good groove together, so we wanted to keep going." Tamu has also talked about this in another interview with a drummer magazine. Tamu says she was contacted by Mayu, who she didn't know, and agreed to join as a session drummer for Mayu's project. My impression is that Tamu didn't know who the other musicians would be until she got to the studio for the first meeting. Tamu also said that she decided to be part of a full-time band only after Saki committed. My assumption was that Saki had the clout to arrange the initial shows. This is especially true since she was still in Mary's Blood with Yuji Nishi as their producer. The connection with Yuji Nishi would seem to mean that Keiko Terada was also involved early on. But according to you, it took the participation of Ryo Fujio, who was likely much less well known than Saki, Yuji Nishi or Keiko Terada in the Japanese metal world, to get those shows booked. It doesn't make sense to me. Especially since Saki has said how they got to play at Metal Weekend - "At the time [August 2019], my management was already talking to Ward Records [a Loudness label], so they booked us to play at Metal Weekend". The management she is talking about is very likely Yuji Nishi. I guess Saki did have the clout. As far as Metal Weekend 2019, I am glad they got the gig. Of course as the first act of the day, they likely had a very short set of all covers except for possibly Oiran (I am guessing Kensuke entered the picture after Metal Weekend, but I don't know), in front of fans there to see the next four bands and not them. According the Mayu, the two Metal Weekend performances were the first as Nemophila.

Well, at least you saw the light about Akiyama. About MS/Nemo, a simple timeline for their 2019 gigs: Aug 22 (WildSide), Sept. 5 (WS, they announced the "Nemophila" name), Sept 14&15 (Metal Weekend), and a show each in Oct. and Dec. (WS). If MS was intended to be a one-off, why was Saki's management or Fujio or whoever in contact with the organizers of Metal Weekend? The answer, dan, is that MS was not meant to be a one-off. Basically I'm leery of English-language interviews with Japanese persons because my experience (which is substantial) is that poor or wrong translations are a big problem. That said, when the interviewer you quote says it was his/her understanding that MS was meant to be a one-off, Mayu doesn't answer "Yes it was." She instead explains how the unit got together. For every English-language interview with Nemo that I've read I've probably read 10 Japanese-language interviews with them, and never has a Nemo member made the following statement: "Mayu Session was meant to play one or two gigs and be done." They haven't made that statement because it's not true.

Most likely Nemophila don't want to create a ballad like Lovebites, they want to create ballads like Nemophila.

lol bullshit!!

So Saki says but it is all bullshit! she is the one who is changing. anyone who cannot see it are blind fools.

@@Reaper77-wn7ot Man, you're totally clueless.

@outwest1014 At the moment, we are trying to keep up with Buy Me A Coffee and Paypal requests. Those are bumped up and are "first in line", so we have to get through them and more come in all the time. We don't choose the songs most of the time, we let our audience choose, especially when they support us as they do. "Comfort zone" has nothing to do with it. If the bands you are referring to are requested through BMAC or PP, we will react to them just the same. Thank you for taking the time to engage. Much appreciated.