History UsefulNotes / VisualKei

This was one of the most pivotal events in this era of VisualKei, even more so than the disbandment of his former band - it was, in its own way, the door closing on both the future direction of VisualKei he represented (both in his solo career branching out of Japan and in his promise to reunite and remake Music/XJapan) at the time in an entirely divorced from emotion sense, and in an emotional and personal sense, one of the most heartwrenching losses of both the scene and of Japanese music in general. As mentioned on his page, the general impact of his death (and the impression it made upon the scene and other artists and fans) was, to compare to Western music, was as if Buddy Holly, ElvisPresley, and JohnLennon had all died ''at the same time'' at the peak of their lives and careers, and in a way that made absolutely no sense and was so sudden and out of the blue.

* DancePartyEnding: Because most EDM acts in Visual Kei are Oshare, though they are usually "kawaii" instead of host.
* DeadHorseGenre: There are signs that Oshare is on its way out - [=L'Arc-en-Ciel=] appears to be headed towards a more metal-oriented direction, and Music/AbingdonBoysSchool gravitated towards metal as well. Oshare's place in the scene is also threatened by the ever-increasing number of disgruntled metal fans who demand for heavier material and more unorthodox styles, a trend made evident by the neo-Visual Shock movement and the renewed popularity of Post-Visual kei and Eroguro kei. [[RuleofCautiousEditingJudgement It might be too early to tell, however]]...

The increase in popularity of {{Vocaloid}} as both a music-making and visual tool among Visual and Post-Visual artists arguably helped in increasing the popularity of digital kei. Famed J-metal composer Yuyoyuppe, best known as "that Megurine Luka guy", is one such artist.

The 2000's also saw the rise and eventual recognition of female VisualKei artists. Post-GothicMetal outfit Music/YouseiTeikoku, fronted by voice actress/singer Creator/YuiItsuki has gained recognition in the {{Anime}} scene for their contributions to several well-known titles, the best-known of these being the first opening track to the anime MiraiNikki. {{Metalcore}} band Music/ExistTrace challenged the conventions of VisualKei by being the most successful all-female Visual act in the scene, both in Japan and on an international level. Other all-female bands, such as Music/{{Aldious}}, Music/{{DESTROSE}} and Music/DangerGang would also enjoy some commercial success. In the mid-2000s, Music/KanonWakeshima, a baroque pop artist and fashion model, revived Lolita kei as a commercially successful subset of Visual Kei. [[TheMentor Produced]] by Mana of Malice Mizer, she rose to stardom with her [[NeoclassicalPunkZydecoRockabilly unusual sound]] and stunning image. Her [[SignatureSong song]] "Still Doll" was used as the ending for the hit anime VampireKnight; it would later become one of the most recognizable Gothic pop songs in modern Japanese music. Another Lolita artist, Music/{{Kana}} brought Lolita kei to even greater prominence with her active participation in Japanese mainstream culture, being an [[RenaissanceMan artist, toy designer, model, singer and actress]].

The biggest influences on the concept in general aside from these artists and Kabuki theatre, though, were Western bands. Music/{{KISS}} was one of the very biggest influences - two of the first VisualKei bands to exist were directly inspired by KISS. Western UsefulNotes/HeavyMetal and HardRock took off in Japan around the early 1980s - providing more influences upon the culture and the subculture, and on the music itself, as a local HardRock and Heavy Metal scene soon developed in Osaka with Music/{{Loudness}} and then soon enough, in other major cities in Japan with other local HardRock and Heavy Metal acts including Anthem (a Heavy Metal band) and BOOWY (a HardRock act where TomoyasuHotei of Kill Bill fame got his start).

Around 1993-1994, the dominant style in Visual Kei had slowly began to shift. GothRock and softer album-oriented rock, PowerPop, and many more diverse genres and subgenres began to filter in as bands slowly moved away from ArenaRock and HairMetal and UsefulNotes/HeavyMetal inspired styles, though metal bands still existed - the more successful ones also adopted a far more ProgressiveRock or Gothic Industrial sound as well as their metal sound.

At the same time, straight up HardRock[=/=]UsefulNotes/HeavyMetal was definitely on the way out: TokyoYankees went on hiatus, for example, and TaijiSawada's solo band D.T.R. never reached a success level beyond "niche," because both held too close to that style and didn't do any innovation in the direction of ProgressiveRock or GothRock styles.

The yankii/bosozoku element tended to drop off of newer VK, at least directly, by this point, with the change toward Goth as a more popular genre and with their own style (for the most part - some HR/HM fans remained, ''especially'' those loyal to specific bands or artists) veering away from HardRock[=/=]UsefulNotes/HeavyMetal into {{rap}}.

* Music/HeavyMetal, including, but not limited to:

* Music/HeavyMetal, including, but not limited to:

Considered as either an offshoot of the more metallic end of Kote Kei or a DarkerAndEdgier take on Visual Shock, Eroguro kei is a Visual Kei microgenre that emerged in the late 1990s, and is inspired by the Eroguro artistic movement (basically Japan's take on {{Postmodernism}}). It is characterized by a fusion of [[HotterAndSexier highly sexualized ]] and [[BloodierAndGorier very dark, terrifying, often violent themes]] as the main motif. Bands on the more "Ero" side opt for extreme [[AmbiguousGender androgyny]] or full-on crossdressing, while bands on the more "Guro" side go for grim, often nightmarish visuals; achieved both by intricate makeup and styling work a la BlackMetal and violent, often ritualized stage performances. Eroguro is musically founded on extreme metal subgenres such as DeathMetal, BlackMetal, {{Grindcore}}, {{Deathcore}} and the heavier end of {{metalcore}}, as well as other extreme genres such as noise rock, HardcorePunk and {{Industrial}}.

** Being accused of personally being a rapist/pedophile/murderer/drug addict/etcetera just because of one's lyrical content or imagery used in a PV or fanfic or whatever. This is a big one - many if not most Eroguro artists and fans fall squarely under MeanCharacterNiceActor, or at the ''very'' worst "random run of the mill {{Jerkass}} / {{Troll}}," and as noted below, are often not even seriously celebrating or ''endorsing'' what they choose to depict ''at all,'' and even the ones who ''are'' are often doing it as a form of extreme satire or "indulgence in the forbidden in a fictional atmosphere."

* SerialEscalation: Compare the founding works of the genre (hide's 1995-1997 works, Kuroyume's early works) to almost any TheNewTens band of the genre.

* StylisticSuck: Along with Post-Visual, the most common genre to use this, usually to make a postmodern artistic statement and/or for the sake of [[TrollingCreator angering fans or specific fans]]. Common forms include a vocalist who is either a MotorMouth or TheUnintelligible (often both), excessive feedback or static in sound output, WordSaladLyrics or horribly written GratuitiousEnglish lyrics, or detuned instruments.

Oshare Kei has three subsets: Host Kei, the most popular, which emphasizes the more {{Bishonen}} side, Kawaii Kei which emphasizes the "cute" aspect, and Urban Kei which is ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin.

* DeadHorseGenre: There are signs that Oshare is on its way out - [=L'Arc-en-Ciel=] appears to be headed towards a more metal-oriented direction, and Music/AbingdonBoysSchool appears to be gravitating towards metal as well. Oshare's place in the scene is also threatened by the ever-increasing number of disgruntled metal fans who demand for heavier material and more unorthodox styles, a trend made evident by the neo-Visual Shock movement and the renewed popularity of Post-Visual kei and Eroguro kei. It might be too early to tell, however.

* TropeCodifier: Music/WagakkiBand and Music/{{Kagrra}}

* StylisticSuck: Not as bad as Eroguro, but some bands in this genre (e.g. those that are parodists or the TrollingCreator are especially prone, as is anything made to be postmodern art) want to sound horrible, and accomplish it. Common forms of doing so include an unintelligible vocalist, a vocalist obviously impersonating someone else, and/or the heavy, unironic use of AutoTune, guitarists or bassists with instruments tuned so badly their amps produce clipping or similar issues, excessive feedback/static/the intentional use of other unpleasant or unwanted noise, and/or incomprehensible or pointlessly offensive lyrics.

* UnbuiltTrope: Sorta. It's been around since the mid-1990s, but since most digital kei artists also fall under more established styles, the scene has yet to solidify and gain more notability for it to come out as a standalone genre.

Considered as either an offshoot of the more metallic end of Kote Kei or a DarkerAndEdgier take on Visual Shock, Eroguro kei is a Visual Kei microgenre that emerged in the late 1990s, and is inspired by the Eroguro artistic movement (basically Japan's take on {{Postmodrnism}}). It is characterized by a fusion of [[HotterAndSexier highly sexualized ]] and [[BloodierAndGorier very dark, terrifying, often violent themes]] as the main motif. Bands on the more "Ero" side opt for extreme [[AmbiguousGender androgyny]] or full-on crossdressing, while bands on the more "Guro" side go for grim, often nightmarish visuals; achieved both by intricate makeup and styling work a la BlackMetal and violent, often ritualized stage performances. Eroguro is musically founded on extreme metal subgenres such as DeathMetal, BlackMetal, {{Grindcore}}, {{Deathcore}} and the heavier end of {{metalcore}}, as well as other extreme genres such as noise rock, HardcorePunk and {{Industrial}}.

* YouGottaHaveBlueHair

Considered as either an offshoot of the more metallic end of Kote Kei or a DarkerAndEdgier take on Visual Shock, Eroguro kei is a Visual Kei microgenre that emerged in the late 1990s, and is inspired by the Eroguro artistic movement. It is characterized by a fusion of [[HotterAndSexier highly sexualized ]] and [[BloodierAndGorier very dark, terrifying, often violent themes]] as the main motif. Bands on the more "Ero" side opt for extreme [[AmbiguousGender androgyny]] or full-on crossdressing, while bands on the more "Guro" side go for grim, often nightmarish visuals; achieved both by intricate makeup and styling work a la BlackMetal and violent, often ritualized stage performances. Eroguro is musically founded on extreme metal subgenres such as DeathMetal, BlackMetal, {{Grindcore}}, {{Deathcore}} and the heavier end of {{metalcore}}, as well as other extreme genres such as noise rock, HardcorePunk and {{Industrial}}.

* {{Grindcore}}, especially noisegrind and pornogrind, is one genre of choice for the "ero" side of Eroguro.
* HarshVocals

* UrExample: Music/XJapan's cover for the album ''Vanishing Vision,'' and the hide-written song ''Sadistic Desire.'' While they were Visual Shock, they were the first examples of Eroguro art.

** To Oshare fans, artists who aren't under similar rules and/or who choose to flaunt them.

* AnimeHair: Subverted. The hair in Angura is usually more Geisha or Kabuki inspired as opposed to anime, though some Angura bandmen will have more typical host cuts.

** MoralGuardians. Even more enraging than ApatheticCitizens as they are seen not as guarding morals but of guarding a facade, and possibly the only group that provokes more disgust for Eroguro artists and fans - to the point that intentionally trying to piss them off is part of being an artist in the genre.

** Being accused of being a "bad influence on society" (''quite a few'' Eroguro artists/bands see themselves as "holding up a mirror to society" and calling "normal" society to account for the atrocities they depict, which "polite society" wishes to ignore rather than confront)[[/note]]. Oshare Kei.

* TropeCodifier: Phantasmagoria and the newly-reformed Music/XJapan
* TropeMaker: Music/{{Miyavi}}

* 5 - Crossdressers for either gender that have made that their continuous stage image or personal image, and who are passable to fans and non-fans alike (pretty much, to anyone who hasn't been told) - Kaya, Mana, Hizaki, and pre-''Kisou'' Dir en grey in their early fashion styles all are examples.

* 4 - Absolute AmbiguousGender. The person could really be either, both, neither, or none from their appearance. There are relatively few artists at this rank because it's very difficult to achieve with a human body in general (and can almost always only be achieved working from a male body without a typically masculine face or broad shoulders or a female body with flat chest and no curves) - hide is an arguable example in his 94-96 phase, or Miyavi in some of his fashion phases.

* TheBeautifulElite: Lolita kei plays this trope even more than Oshare Kei, with artists striving to achieve a perfect Victorian or neoclassical aesthetic through he use of ''[[CrackIsCheaper very expensive]]'' costuming and stagecraft, though it isn't as much of an EnforcedTrope as in Oshare.

* MohsScaleOfRockAndMetalHardness: 1 to 9, occasionally 10, sometimes by the ''same band,'' as this genre welcomes both quiet classical type interludes and the ''absolute extremes'' of speed and technicality in Visual Kei (some of the best guitar/bass shredders, drummers, pianists/keyboardists, etc. in the scene are Lolita or ex-Lolita artists). In fact, with its classical emphasis, it tends to draw "the best of the best" on a technical level unless they really wish to go into another genre, meaning that most bands are more than capable of doing both quiet instrumentals and then shredding just as well as Music/{{Dragonforce}} or any Big Four thrash band.

* EnsembleDarkhorse: Chances are, if a J-rock/J-metal band falls under Post-Visual, they're probably more respected than their contemporaries. However, not all of them receive this treatment, as you will see later on.

The increase in popularity of {{Vocaloid}} as both a music-making and visual tool among Visual and Post-Visual artists arguably helped in increasing the popularity of digital kei.

* FollowTheLeader: The surprise success of Music/BloodStainChild in 2005 initiated a surge in popularity of similarly-styled acts and more established bands (especially from Oshare and Post-Visual) shifting towards digital kei.

* ProjectedMan: How the {{Vocaloid}}s Hatsune Miku, Kagamine Len[=/=]Rin and Gakupo have had "live" shows.

* ScaryMusicianHarmlessMusic: Mostly averted. Save for the [[AnimeHair wild and colorful hairstyles]], most digital kei artists don't appear too different from {{Idol Singer}}s, indie rockers or nightclub DJs, and their music isn't particularly harsh either. Occasionally inverted and/or subverted by industrial and noise-influenced artists, and inverted by hide, who had a couple of "cute" visual style phases yet only rarely went below a 6 on the MohsScaleOfLyricalHardness in instrumentals.

* UnbuiltTrope: It's been around since the mid-1990s, but since most digital kei artists also fall under more established styles, the scene has yet to solidify and gain more notability for it to come out as a standalone genre.

* UnlimitedWardrobe: Post-Visual acts are nigh-infamous for their periodic, often annual or bi-annual appearance changes, which are most often extremely drastic, to the point where they can sometimes be unrecognizable. This has led to massive amounts of FanDumb and BrokenBase in Post-Visual bands' fan communities.

* FlameWar: Somewhat infamous for it, due to at least one band that falls into the category having literally dozens of ways to start InternetBackdraft due to more controversies than can be counted. Other bands that fall into the genre often don't have as many (mostly due to being new bands and/or having small enough fanbases that TheLawOfOnlineJackassery protects them) but any band with a sizable fandom that is a LongRunner likely has had at least a few flamewars.

* BarBrawl: Visual Shock artists were particularly infamous for this in TheEighties, though many fans see this as a way of shocking their fanbase or drawing attention towards themselves, plus, many of them are too old/too physically damaged/too concerned with legal ramifications to have a bar fight now, or have realized how stupid and dangerous the behavior was, and policing is far more restrictive now, so it is less of a feature of Neo Visual Shock than its predecessor.

* EightiesHair: A very large part of it - EightiesHair is often ''de rigeur'' for

Angura is generally a FolkRock / FolkMetal subgenre, that spawned out of PatrioticFervor and an interest in TheOldWays. It has its roots in Visual Shock somewhat, as there were some right-wing and "old Japanese traditional" sentiments there, and it really took the "Kabuki" part of Visual Shock and ran with it more than anything else, rejecting the Western-inspired parts aside from their preferred genres of HeavyMetal or HardRock. Band members often wear kimono, and traditional Kabuki or {{Geisha}} style makeup and hair, and use of borderline fascist or ImperialJapan glorifying lyrics and imagery is not unknown.

* 2 - Solid {{Bishonen}} / {{Biseinen}}, with heavy makeup for both genders, and some possible ventures into tertiary characteristics (outright feminine clothing for men, or masculine clothing for women) to invoke some ViewerGenderConfusion. At this point, you can't usually tell by looking at face alone.

* 5 - Crossdressers for either gender that have made that their continuous stage image or personal image, and who are passable to fans and non-fans alike (pretty much, to anyone who hasn't been told) - Kaya, Mana, Hizaki, and Shinya of Dir en grey in his early fashion styles all are examples.

* {{Grindcore}}, especially noisegrind and pornogrind, is one genre of choice for the "ero" side of Eroguro.

How VisualKei itself differentiated from Japanese HardRock and Heavy Metal is somewhat lost to history if one is looking for an absolute, precise band to claim as "they started it." Around the early to mid 1980s, many bands were forming or had formed in the major cities. The bands generally credited with beginning the scene, though, were the Tokyo-based Music/XJapan (then simply called "X,"), the Tokyo-based {{Rosenfeld}}, the also Tokyo-based Music/{{COLOR}}, the also Tokyo-based Music/SeikimaII, one more Tokyo artist, the actor and singer Rolly, and the Gunma-based Music/BuckTick. Fans of ''each and every one of these acts'' will claim their band was the one who started VisualKei, when the real truth is somewhere in between - that ''all'' of these bands and acts, beginning their careers in the same time window and doing similar things and sometimes associating with each other, was what launched VisualKei as a culture and musical scene as well as a subgenre.