''Moon'' is the third full-length studio album released by Japanese solo artist

Gackt , better known by his mononymous stage name Gackt (stylized as GACKT), is a Japanese musician, singer, songwriter, record producer and actor. Born in Okinawa, Japan, to a Ryukyuan family, Gackt learned the piano at a young age and was raise ...

on June 19, 2002. Instead of a booklet, the album comes with a printed note by the artist, asking readers to "sense" the record's story, rather than analyzing the lyrics. The booklet was eventually included in the packaging of ''Moons 2003 follow-up ''

Crescent A crescent shape (, ) is a symbol or emblem used to represent the lunar phase in the first quarter (the "sickle moon"), or by extension a symbol representing the Moon itself. In Hinduism, Lord Shiva is often shown wearing a crescent moon on his ...

''. Both albums are conceptually linked, as well as his more recent albums ''

Diabolos ''Diabolos'' is the sixth full-length studio album released by Japanese solo artist Gackt on September 21, 2005 in Japan, and on October 26, 2007, in eighteen countries across Europe. Conceptually, it is a sequel entrant to the "Moon Saga" found ...

'' and ''

Last Moon ''Last Moon'' is the eighth full-length studio album by Japanese recording artist Gackt released on April 27, 2016 in Japan. It is considered to be the final, but not ending part of "Moon Saga", a concept by which is conceptually linked to its pre ...

'' from the "Moon Saga".

Release

The album was released on 19 June 2002, by

Nippon Crown is a Japanese record label established as Crown Records on 6 September 1963. It is a spin-off of Nippon Columbia and is owned by karaoke maker Daiichikosho. The record label singles which topped the Oricon Singles Chart are Kaze's "22-Sai no ...

. In the initial counting week of July it reached number two on the

Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan and Western music. It started as, which was founded by Sōkō Koike in Nov ...

charts, with sales of 185,840 copies. It charted for 10 weeks. In 2002, with sales of 281,590 copies, was the 67th best selling album of the year. As since its release the album has sold more than 250,000 copies, was certified Gold by the

RIAJ The is an industry trade group composed of Japanese corporations involved in the music industry. It was founded in 1942 as the Japan Phonogram Record Cultural Association, and adopted its current name in 1969. The RIAJ's activities include p ...

. The first single " Another World" became Gackt's first to reach the top two on the charts. The single reached number two on the third counting week of September 2001, with sales of 111,560 copies. In the upcoming weeks, it was at number three and eight respectively, with sales of 42,490, and 22,850 copies. It charted for 17 weeks, of that eight in the top twenty. In 2001, with 255,640 copies sold, it was the 74th best-selling single of the year, and it sold over 284,550 copies, most of any of his singles, and it is the only second (and latest) to sell over two hundred thousand copies. The second single " Wasurenai Kara" reached number four on the initial counting week of May 2002, with sales of 78,310 copies. It charted for 5 weeks. In 2002, with 132,260 copies sold, was the 98th best selling single of the year.

Critical reception

''Moon'' was generally positively received by reviews.

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

author Alexey Eremenko gave the album a rating of 3.5 out of 5 stars, observing that "is a fine specimen of its kind", it's "fast, emotive, heavy but not scary", praising the slow-tempo somber song "Fragrance", but criticized the album because is "too fine and effective" it becomes "sterile", and "sounds too much like music in general". He concluded that "despite the few musical connotations it actually possesses", as "far as artificial (read: professional) Japanese music goes, Moon is definitely one monster of a record".

Track listing

Notes

* The song "Lu:na" was used as an opening theme in the anime ''

New Fist of the North Star is a three-episode original video animation (OVA) series based on the ''Fist of the North Star'' franchise, directed by Takashi Watanabe and produced by OB Planning. The story was adapted from , a 1996 ''Hokuto no Ken'' novel written by Burons ...

'', for which Gackt provided the voice of the main antagonist Seiji. * The song "Another World" was used in the ''Neue Men's'' commercial for

Shiseido is a Japanese multinational cosmetic company founded in Tokyo, Japan in 1872. Its product categories consist of: skin care, makeup, body care, hair care, and fragrances. The company is one of the oldest cosmetic companies in the world and ...

. * The song "Doomsday" was used in a Takano Yuri commercial. * The song "Speed Master" was covered in partly English version by Gackt's band

Yellow Fried Chickenz Yellow is the color between green and Orange (color), orange on the Visible spectrum, spectrum of light. It is evoked by light with a dominant wavelength of roughly 575585 Nanometre, nm. It is a primary color in subtractive color systems, u ...

's and performed live including at

Makuhari Messe is a Japanese convention center outside Tokyo, located in the Mihama-ku ward of Chiba City, in the northwest corner of Chiba Prefecture. Designed by Fumihiko Maki, it is accessible by Tokyo's commuter rail system. ''Makuhari'' is the name of ...

in 2011, released on DVD recording ''World Tour *Show Ur Soul.I* 世壊傷結愛魂祭 at Makuhari 2011'' in 2012.

Album credits

; Personnel *

Vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

Piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

: Gackt *

Guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

Violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

: You *Guitar: Yukihiro "Chachamaru" Fujimura *Guitar:

Masa ''Masa'' (or ''masa de maíz'') (; ) is a maize dough that comes from ground nixtamalization, nixtamalized corn. It is used for making corn tortillas, ''gorditas'', ''tamales'', ''pupusas'', and many other Latin American cuisine, Latin American d ...

*Effects, Guitar: Nao Kimura *

Bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...

: Ren *

Drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

: Toshiyuki Sugino *Drums: Ryuichi Nishida *Bass: Crazy Cool Joe *Bass: Koichi Terasawa *Bass: Yoshihito Onda *Drums: Kota Igarashi *Violin: Gen Ittetsu *Keyboards & Orchestra arrangement: Shusei Tsukamoto ; Production *Producer: Gackt *Associate Produced: Yukihiro “chachamaru” Fujimura *Executive Producer: Masami Kudo (Nippon Crown), You Harada (Museum Museum) *Recorded & Mixed & Pro Tools Edited: Motonari Matsumoto *Assistant Engineer: Yoshitaka Ishigaki (Burnish), Michinori Sato (Burnish), Takanobu Suhiyama (Burnish), Chie Miyasaka (Burnish), Tadashi Yamaguchi (Studio Jive), Shinichi Tokumo (Sound Atelier), Teruaki Ise (Wonder station) *Recording Coordinator: Maki Iida, Yoshihito Umeki (Burnish) *Mastering Engineer: Yoichi Aikawa (Rolling Sound Mastering Stuio) ; Design *Art direction, Design, Gun Coordinator: Jun Misaki *Photographer: Kenji Tsukagoshi

References

{{Authority control 2002 albums Gackt albums