Oh my, it’s June! It’s the prologue to the summer season! After several months of being completely active from the release of RISE to the release of their major debut album CIRCUS and finally their CIRCUS live tour, MADKID and its dedicated AXCELS are finally going on rest mode. In actuality, the CIRCUS release events are still ongoing throughout the month of June, but the boys will now be going through their own sabbatical period, spending time with their family and friends (outside the biz) and of course, preparing for their next activities this coming summer and throughout the rest of 2019.

In this latest What’s Happening? post, I’ll be covering more on what’s happening right after the end of the CIRCUS live tour and also what’s happening out here in the interwebs with the global Axcels and of course, this site.

Nothing new after CIRCUS?

For many of us “veteran” Axcels, a period of silence usually mean the boys are cooking something up and rather than hyping things up in public, they would announce it to us when the right time comes. Besides, the boys are as human as the rest of us and they too need their rest as well, right?

Besides, it’s too early to release something brand-new when CIRCUS just came out last April. And knowing MADKID, they love to take things slowly, which also means they also love making the Axcels anticipate so much with what’s to come. For new Axcels, waiting is daunting, but for long-time Axcels, this is quite normal.

The pattern that we all caught was that right after a one-man live or a live tour, the boys would usually introduce and announce something brand-new to their fans. But with the CIRCUS live tour, no new announcements. In a way, for me it seems kind of shocking because I thought I caught their pattern, but in some way, it is also understandable, given that their latest live tour was revolving around their major debut album.

Let’s wait till maybe July or August. Maybe something new will come up. If not a new release, it may be a new live tour or maybe more. But, as they say, good things come to those who wait.

Shin’s injury of 2019

That “wrap” that Shin has around his neck is not a new fad accessory. It is a neck brace. He’s one of the more fashionable members of MADKID alongside Yuki, but seriously, that is a neck brace.

If you’ve been following MADKID for at least since last year, Shin is one of the most diligent members who almost never missed a single MADKID live event. Of all the several events they’ve participated, Shin only missed two. ¹

Last year, Shin scared the entire Axcel Family when he tripped himself on stage during rehearsals and injured his left foot. Luckily for him, it wasn’t too serious, or otherwise, it would have costed him his entire career. For some two months, he had documented in the MADKID LINE Blog about the status of his foot, just to ease the worries of everyone. After all, Shin is one of the prominent dancers of MADKID, and losing him because of this injury can be costly to both MADKID and the Axcels. Good thing he took it easy, continued on participating in their scheduled events, and eventually his foot healed.

I don’t have the entire story about his neck just yet (hopefully I’ll find out soon), but it was probably another rehearsal injury. If you are an Axcel who have been following Shin (by himself) for awhile, one of his favorite signature dance moves that he would normally add to his routines is the head snap. I haven’t seen him snapping his head in the dances for awhile now, so maybe he tried to do it again? Maybe he overexerted himself a bit with that head snapping. Hopefully I’m completely wrong about this.

Please, Shin, I know your neck injury may seem minor because you haven’t skipped a single live event since you got your neck brace, but please take care of yourself.

Hello, Uncle YOU-TA!

The first time that I became an Axcel last year, the first blog post that I read from YOU-TA was about the wedding of his big sister Ayumi. He and the rest of MADKID were present on that beautiful occasion, giving their love and support for the newlyweds.

Over a year later, we have another update. Ayumi gave birth to a   beautiful baby girl just a few days ago. The president of MADKID becomes the second member to be a new uncle. ² Be sure to stop by his Twitter and Instagram and give your blessings and congratulations to YOU-TA and his sister and hubby.

He’ll have plenty of time during this sabbatical period to spend in taking care of this little one, so let’s all give our love and support to YOU-TA and his family. More blessings and power!

New Project: AXCEL STYLE DISCORD CHAT

Sometime last week, a few friends and I set up a brand-new Discord Chat server for global Axcels. I have to thank The Rising of the Shield Hero anime staff for giving MADKID this huge opportunity to showcase their musicianship with two opening themes, RISE and FAITH.

As the Axcel Fam continues to rise, ³ I think it’s finally the right time to create a community system that would bring all global Axcels together. Japanese fans are always welcome, but the main language of communication would be English, but either way, please come and join!

I don’t know if the Discord widget at the main page of this site is working because for some reason, it’s not working on my end. So instead, I’ll share you guys the direct link: AXCEL STYLE DISCORD CHAT SERVER.

All of the tutorials and tips on the Discord chat are all in there. You can bookmark the URL provided to you or you can download the Discord app if you would like to access it through mobile devices. I’ll be there, some awesome global Axcels will be there, so please spread the word around.

Something new on AXCEL STYLE?

A few months ago, I’ve proposed some suggestions and ideas that would not just make this site thriving, but to also give an opportunity for some Axcels to express their love, support, and knowledge about MADKID. I think I may have presented them at the wrong time ⁴ and no one really signed up for the projects, so I decided to scrap it.

Instead, I’ll be opening another blog category separate from the rest of the MADKID-related blog that will focus more on the “fan side” of myself as an Axcel. So far, I’ve only been writing MADKID-fan related posts on my personal blog, but most of my readers there aren’t J-Pop fans, and are mostly ignored.

I won’t be spending too much on this new blog feature just yet because I’m much busier real life than it is here on my fandoms. I don’t have all the details yet on how I’m going to start this new feature, but when I finally start it, please do keep an eye on it.

I also started opening another side blog project called ASIATIC TAKES, where I’ll be writing about my personal experiences and takes on Asian pop culture and just Asian culture in general. That will include Asian dramas, J-Pop and Asian pop music in general (K-pop included), my life as an Asian growing up and living in the U.S., etc. If you’re into this side of the Asian experience, please do come and visit when you can. ⁵

I would write about my MADKID fan-related posts over there too, but I feel that it’s a lot more appropriate here on AXCEL STYLE. As I’ve always told myself, all for the love of MADKID.

And that’s it for this post. Till next time, Axcels!

1. First time was because of his injury on his left foot that almost cost him his career. Second time was when he was invited to be a guest at a talk show to promote his group and the Summer Time single.
2. I haven’t been a fan that long, but I was told that KAZUKI became an uncle back in 2017 when his older sister gave birth to her first child – a girl?
3. no pun intended
4. when virtually no one knew about MADKID except for a few
5. This is not a shameless plug, but I have to mention this because it’s somewhat related.