Visual Kei

Visual Kei (???????, lit. "visual type") refers to a movement in J-Rock which became popular in the 1990's. It is characterised by bands using dramatic costumes and visual imagery to grab attention, as the name implies. Within Japan, the fan-base almost solely consists of teenage girls and is marketed strongly to that audience with items such as tradeable stickers, glossy photo-books, picture-postcards of band members and so on. In other countries, the comparatively small quantity of Visual Kei followers is roughly an equal division between male and female youth.

Related Topics:
J-Rock - Japan - Teenage

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Members of Visual Kei bands often wear striking makeup, style their hair in dramatic shapes, reminiscent of "hair bands" from the '80s, and wear elaborate costumes. Although the vast majority of the musicians are male, Band Members will often wear makeup and clothing which would be considered 'feminine' or 'androgynous'. Recently some bands are returning to the more colourful and "fantastic" image popular 5 or 6 years ago, taking inspiration from computer roleplaying games and anime. The appeal of the costumes to fans is so great that large numbers of girls will cosplay as members of their favourite bands, particularly at live concerts in Japan, or in America at anime conventions.

Related Topics:
Androgynous - Roleplaying games - Anime - Cosplay

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Visual Kei bands, being defined primarily by visual style, do not necessarily play a specific type of music. They most often play J-Rock (e.g. LUNA SEA, Dir en grey) and vocal based pop or light rock (e.g. Glay, L'Arc-en-Ciel, Gackt). However, bands playing or influenced by Heavy Metal (e.g. SEX MACHINEGUNS), Industrial, Synth Pop, Punk and so on are also to be found. Taking the genre in a wide sense, most of the bands would be considered to play some kind of "rock" music.

Related Topics:
LUNA SEA - Dir en grey - Glay - L'Arc-en-Ciel - Gackt

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Western observers sometimes confuse Visual Kei bands with Goth bands because of the occasionally similar makeup and clothing, but most Japanese goths do not consider Visual Kei to be gothic, and there is little cultural crossover between Japanese Visual Kei fans and Japanese goths beyond the "Gothic Lolita" fashion, which was influenced by the goth subculture.

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Largely this movement is credited to have been started 'almost single handedly' by X JAPAN, however a rising trend of utilizing visual shock to gain membership in the independent scene was well in effect by the time X went major: they may be seen in this sense not as a catalyst for the movement, but a mechanism to involve dominant Japanese popular culture with it. Bands in the early '90s such as Die in Cries, LUNA SEA, , Shazna, and Baiser along with previous bands BUCK-TICK and X JAPAN encouraged a "boom" of this media culture.

Related Topics:
X JAPAN - Die in Cries - LUNA SEA - Shazna - Baiser - BUCK-TICK

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Within the field of Visual Kei are several popular 'sub-genres', including Gothic Lolita, EroGuro and Angura Kei, which form particular visual styles.

Related Topics:
Gothic Lolita - EroGuro - Angura Kei

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