(Note: I never really finished this on time but i dont care. Im making the post date for this the 10th anyways because that was when I started typing it. I also just get a bit sappy here so if you feel like that isnt for you or youre going to take it as a chance to be a bitch then just close the blog tab and breathe some fresh air. Thank you!)
April 10th, 2009 marked the first oneman live after their former drummer, Dankichi Tenkujou, left the band. It was that same concert that Kenji debuted as their new drummer.
In 2020, I listened to a Golden Bomber song for the first time (well, kind of...) since I was into pop'n music and i eventually got into GB because my favorite character had Memeshikute as one of his songs. It was then that I kind of went down a rabbit hole of listening to a bunch of GB, when I stopped on one song; a very recent one at the time, Tatsuo, Yome wo Ore ni Kure. Besides the fact that the album it's from kind of sucks, that song singlehandedly made me think, wow, I really, really, really love Kenji.
And love I did! Albeit GB was more of a casual interest of mine...but I remember binging a lot of Kenji-specific content.
Back to now...I feel like ever since 2023, there hasn't been a single day in my life that I have gone without spotting Kenji's face somewhere in my life. I have a phone charm of him attached to my phone at all times. I have a picture of him as my laptop wallpaper. I have a picture of him as my phone wallpaper. I have a memorial photo album from 2011 that i confide in whenever I just want a cute picture to look at. Every bag that I take out with me has a can badge holder with can badges of him inside. If you know me on a surface level, one of the things you know is how Kenji's my honmei, and if you've known me for a bit, you'd know I own merch of him. It pales in comparison to other collections I've seen, but I love everything dearly...maybe that, in a way, makes it a bigger collection (???)...
It's stupid; the fact that i'm dedicating a blog post to a 44 year old that has no idea I exist is very, very stupid. But I feel like I owe him something; a tiny tribute of my love, a sign of gratitude for all the times I've felt like the scum of the earth and all i needed to save me was a photo, a funny video, a DVD, quite literally anything related to Kenji. As stupid as it is, I can't help but feel the need to thank him, at least in a fan-to-idol type of way (lol).
So much time has passed since 2009, and Kenji has changed so much; from his makeup style to his outfits to just the way he speaks to the audience in MCs, he's the type of person that's constantly changing, and it's almost always for the better. That kind of change takes discipline, and a kind of self-respect that i really do not see myself attaining (lol)...I feel like it makes him very admirable to me. I say this in more of a respect way, if that makes sense. Of course, it's not the most mentally stable behavior to put someone on that high of a pedestal, but i'm just saying this out of a place of respect. I hope it comes off like that naturally without me clarifying it (lol)
Thank you, Kenji, from the bottom of my heart. You've made Golden Bomber one of the most meaningful bands I've ever listened to, and it's just because you sit behind a drum set pretending to play with an iPod taped on the drum next to you.
Thank you for always smiling and singing along.
I think that's essentially everything that's on my mind. I hate being this vulnerable but i feel like i've been meaning to make a post like this for way too long that i just can't help but dump all my thoughts (lol)
Mwah! Hugs and kisses!
Thanks for reading!
Cat
