History Main / VisualKei

* {{Gayborhood}}: Is, to some degree, in the same way theatre is in the West. The scene developed an almost immediate reputation for HoYay for several reasons (mostly from its inspiration from GlamRock and Kabuki theatre, and that the percentage of at least to some degree bisexual men in the early scene was ''much'' higher than that of Japanese society in general, and that early on being openly and dramatically out was seen as a way of flipping normal Japanese society off as opposed to {{fanservice}} for YaoiFangirls). These factors, while not making it an ''entirely'' safe space for gay/male-preferring bi men, crossdressers, transwomen, made it far more accepting than the rest of Japan or the rest of the Japanese entertainment industry for much of TheEighties / TheNineties. (Lesbian and transman representation was and is still fairly limited in the Japanese scene because of the lower percentage of women or men with current/once externally female bodies being directly involved, but in non-Japanese Visual Kei ''both'' are also fairly heavily represented). Even in TheNewTens, it's a ReconstructedTrope: gay or male-preferring bi men who wish to remain closeted can pass as simply doing fanservice for YaoiFangirls, while those who wish to be out can be out with relatively few problems from anyone. While most men in Visual Kei are heterosexual or female-preferring bisexual men, despite what some of the more rabid YaoiFangirl would claim, it's undeniable that there ''is'' a far higher percentage of ''out'' gay/male-preferring bi men in Visual Kei than in a random sampling of the Japanese mainstream society.

* KaleidoscopeEyes: The subversion of color contacts is very common, to the degree that people who naturally have odd-colored eyes (blue or blueish or violet or gray in Japan, odd shades of all eye colors elsewhere) are assumed to be wearing them.

* ConspicuousCG: Often found in VK promotional videos until well after the TurnOfTheMillennium, and ''very'' prevalent in TheNineties. With the access almost anyone with the money to film a video has to even somewhat good producers and production software as of TheNewTens, it's mostly intentional or StylisticSuck if it appears in a video made then or afterward.

* IdenticalLookingAsians: A major part of Japanese Visual from very early on was ''averting'' this. Many people realized that they all looked alike and so they relied on hair colors, makeup, contacts, clothes, different gear, and anything else they could think of (including plastic surgery or the like) to set themselves apart from each other.

* OnlyCoolPeopleMatter: The attitude of some people in the scene. These tend to gravitate either toward elitism or, conversely, toward the assumption that what's trendy is best. The more elitist tend to assume that only their preferred style and people who have some degree of inside access and [[TheBeautifulElite perfectly youthful and thin appearance]] are worthy of even mere tolerance, and anyone else is a stupid fangirl or fanboy. The trend followers hop onto whatever trend is cool (you can see them as die-hard Oshare fans one week, die-hard Post-Visual and Eroguro fans the next, into the new suddenly cool Angura band the next...) and tend to hate anyone who doesn't want to immediately jump ship to the new trend.

* JunkieProphet: If we can consider alcoholism, the scene boasts at least one, now dead - [[Music/HidetoMatsumoto hide]], who among other things described TheNewTens culture alongside current Japanese culture in ''Oblaat'' and who told people he knew about a recurring nightmare of earthquake and nuclear disaster. If Music/{{Loudness}} could be considered part of the scene, its late drummer Music/MunetakaHiguchi also qualifies with his work on the lyrics of ''Pandemonium,'' the band's album that foretold TheWarOnTerror and its [[HopelessWar outcome.]]

* EverythingsBetterWithPrincesses: [[Music/YoshikiHayashi Yoshiki]] until around 1994, and Music/{{Hizaki}}. The entire Lolita Kei subgenre.

* Music/DirEnGrey - Japan's most acclaimed and most successful Visual Kei group, and arguably one of the [[UpToEleven most]] [[NeoclassicalPunkZydecoRockabilly unique]] bands in the modern Visual scene. In the mid-2000s, they have opted for a post-Visual image, but since 2008 they have returned to experimenting with VK. Outside VK, they are known for being the SpiritualSuccessor to Music/FaithNoMore. Also see:

* Music/MariaCross - Oshare Kei StreetMusician known for [[AmbiguousGender zis]] unusual [[NeoclassicalPunkZydecoRockabilly musical style]].

** Whenever a band goes NeoclassicalPunkZydecoRockabilly, [[GenreAdultery plays songs in genres other than rock or metal]], or [[GenreShift outright changes their musical style]], to some degree. As with the general rock/metal scene, GenreBusting is usually seen as bizarre and untrue to the spirit of the subculture and therefore, is not tolerated by everyone in the scene (though the VK scene is more tolerant of such artists and bands). Bands like Music/ExistTrace and Music/TheGazette gain fairly sizable {{Hatedom}}s for having changed their musical styles.

** A great many songs come across as jarring and hard to appreciate for the uninitiated; it is not helped by the fact that most songs are written in Japanese or nigh-unintelligible GratuitousEnglish, and sound like a mix of [[NeoclassicalPunkZydecoRockabilly different and disparate musical styles]]. Whether this is MindScrew or not depends greatly on the listeners, but more often than not, the music comes across as bizarre and alien-sounding for most.

* Music/{{Dementia}} Proto-VisualKei HeavyMetal, notable because [[Music/TaijiSawada Taiji]] was a guitarist and bassist for it.

* Music/DirEnGrey - Japan's most acclaimed and most successful VisualKei group, and arguably one of the [[UpToEleven most]] [[NeoclassicalPunkZydecoRockabilly unique]] bands in the modern Visual scene. In the mid-2000s, they have opted for a post-Visual image, but since 2008 they have returned to experimenting with VK. Outside VK, they are known for being the SpiritualSuccessor to Music/FaithNoMore. Also see:

* Music/ExistTrace[[note]]Also see Music/{{DESTROSE}}, Music/{{Aldious}} and Music/DangerGang, the other notable all-female VisualKei bands[[/note]] - [[DistaffCounterpart All-female]] group, and one of the most well-known, formerly MelodicDeathMetal, now post-{{Metalcore}} / HardRock

* {{Music/Galneryus}}[[note]]Also see Music/{{DELUHI}}, Music/{{Gunbridge}} and Music/{{Yama-B}} [[/note]] -- Post-VisualKei neoclassical metal band. Started out as a neoclassical prog-power metal band, then shifted to pop, and again neoclassical metal with progressive and thrash elements.

* Music/{{Loudness}} - Not really a VK band, but they did use kei-inspired visuals for some time (1991-92 especially) and were influential in establishing the early scene [[note]][[Music/YoshikiHayashi Yoshiki]] and [[Music/ToshimitsuDeyama Toshi]] considered them one huge inspiration for [[Music/XJapan their future band]], which was the TropeNamer and TropeMaker of VisualKei, and covered "In The Mirror" as one of their very first performances as "Noise" in the early [[TheEighties 80's]][[/note]], As of 2013 the vocalist is experimenting with VK once more. Also see:

* Music/XJapan - The TropeNamer and a co-TropeMaker, if not, THE TropeMaker for VisualKei. They were also one of the [[GenrePopularizer popularizers]] of the movement, being responsible for making the movement an important and near-ubiquitous presence in Japanese rock/metal, as well as an influential scene on an international scale. Went post-Visual in 1997, but since their official reunion in 2010 they have returned to being VK. Also see:

** Music/{{hide|toMatsumoto}} - One of the most important contributors to VisualKei aside from Yoshiki and Dynamite Tommy, having been partly responsible for establishing the various modern Visual microgenres.

* Music/YokosukaSaberTiger [[note]] Also see Music/{{hide|toMatsumoto}} [[/note]] - proto-VisualKei HeavyMetal / HairMetal, the first band for both [[Music/HidetoMatsumoto hide]] and Rolly.

* "Maebashi Visual-Kei!" A 2011 Japanese film about a young man that left his rural life to become a famous VisualKei artist. Known best for [[TheThemeParkVersion its romanticization and sanitization of the realities]] of Visual Kei, as well as [[WTHCastingAgency casting Johnnys Jimusho actors for everyone involved]] never mind that casting actual indies Visual Kei artists at least as extras could have easily been done.

[[AC: Productions for which VisualKei or post-VisualKei artists/bands have created music/soundtracks]] (please list in this section if the band existed ''before'' the anime or manga or film - if the band was ''created'' for the production, it belongs in one of the above categories)

* AcquiredSituationalNarcissism: A common reason for VisualKei artists becoming the AttentionWhore or DramaQueen, getting into scandals, or otherwise acting in ways that seem to be ItsAllAboutMe even after becoming famous (and no longer ''needing'' to be an AttentionWhore or ShamelessSelfPromoter as getting famous occasionally requires.) To name any specific artist would start a FlameWar, because there's ''more than one.''

* AgentPeacock: As quite a few people stupid enough to get into a BarBrawl with VisualKei artists quickly learned, ''looking effeminate does not make one a weakling or wimp.''

* ArtEvolution: Has happened in all of VisualKei, though whether the changes brought by the evolution are good or not is ''very'' dependent upon the fan/the artist commenting. There's quite a few people, for example, who wish a specific subgenre had never developed (Oshare gets this a lot from metal fans, but so does Eroguro from people who find it a misogynistic, backward embarrassment), or that Post-Visual had never became a thing. On the other hand, there's a lot of fans and artists who are thankful that the scene has evolved and therefore survived at various points.

* AttentionWhore: ''VERY'' common in VisualKei, except ''most'' tend to be a relatively harmless ShamelessSelfPromoter at worst, because from the beginning of the scene, artists ''had'' to try to stand out and get attention to even be noticed as Visual Kei. There may be some of the more pathological type, but most VK attention whoring is simply for artistic and artist promotion purposes due to attention bids being an effective way to get one's message out - getting on the news, for example, is nearly-free publicity that might introduce you to a PeripheryDemographic who thinks you looked cool, or filming your PV in a busy public location without proper permits gives you both the chance to look natural and induce EnforcedMethodActing.

* CastFullOfPrettyBoys: Almost all VisualKei bands, unless the band is made of women or has female members, or the band is ''really'' old and hasn't had good luck with genetics or money for plastic surgery and/or makeup, or the band has intentionally decided to avert the trope and be as ''ugly'' as possible in hopes of being more shocking.

* ConvectionSchmonvection: ''VERY'' common in early VisualKei PerformanceVideo, promotional video, and even occasionally live performance. Visual Shock bands such as Music/XJapan and Music/BuckTick ''loved'' pyro back then, and often the determinant for "should we set this on fire" was the RuleOfCool, not anything related to safety or sanity or even if it made sense in the video. When done in live performance or practice or otherwise, belief in the trope actually led to accidental fires and even to a few incidents of ManOnFire as mentioned below. When people began to get tired of taking said risks with ''actual'' pyro, CG became good enough to render semi-realistic fire, so the trope continued on in videos even as it somewhat died out in lives.

* CoverVersion: Most VisualKei bands start out by covering ([[UsefulNotes/{{Plagiarism}} or occasionally outright ripping off without credit]]) other VisualKei bands. More established bands will also still do covers, usually as tributes, for cover albums, or as a [[TheAtoner belated form of credit]] for past plagiarism.

* CreatorBreakdown: A very common event in VisualKei as a result of the various financial and societal pressures on artists, as a result of many artists already being TheMentallyDisturbed to some degree, and the amount of amphetamine-class stimulants funneled into the scene by the [[{{Yakuza}} very nice gentlemen whom we shall not name for fear of getting whacked]] among other factors. Often a reason for disbandments or people leaving the scene entirely.

** As a matter of fact, one of the US-English sites covering VisualKei is called "Shattered Tranquility," in a form of LampshadeHanging.

* ExplicitContent: It's everywhere, at least if you know where to look and can find translations/can understand Japanese. From the very beginning - while Music/XJapan may be better known for such ballads as ''Forever Love'' and ''Endless Rain'' now, a quite large amount of its work is IntercourseWithYou, including ''Stab Me In The Back,'' a song released in ''1987'' that was explicitly about the joys of male/male sex, and of course ''Orgasm,'' which is about ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin. Music/BuckTick is nigh-famous for it, as a short browse of its page will show. SerialEscalation and SeinfeldIsUnfunny means that Music/DirEnGrey and Music/TheGazette have stuff that makes X and Buck-Tick look almost innocent in comparison. Almost the only part of VisualKei that doesn't indulge (openly) are some Oshare bands, and even they have it, they just prefer to hide it behind a lot of innuendo, LyricalDissonance, or similar tricks.

** That said, don't make the mistake that you can necessarily tell someone's sexuality by how androgynous they are. As an example, Music/{{Kaya}} is out as gay and one of the most convincing crossdressers in VisualKei, but [[Music/MaliceMizer Mana]], another of the most convincing crossdressers, is straight. Also, in Japanese culture, androgyny and crossdressing are not as equated with same-sex attraction as they are in the Western world - whereas being [[TheBear overweight or heavily muscled]] and [[MachoCamp hypermasculine]] behavior ''are'' (for an example, see BaraGenre and its page image).

* GossipyHens: See the above entry for Tanuki, the 2ch community for bangya, mitsukano, tsunagari, bandmen, fantasists, haters, and {{Troll}}s. Anonymous memes for the VisualKei or jrock scene elsewhere attempt to approach its level of nuggets of truth mixed in a massive shitstorm of insane vitriol, but can barely compare.

** Part of the reason why Visual Kei experienced a renaissance in the 2000s is the increasing number of non-Visual Kei idol singers and solo artists adopting a Visual kei image and sound, to the point where, as of TheNewTens, Visual Kei-influenced J-pop artists have become so common that even casual fans will have little to no trouble finding VisualKei almost anywhere in the J-music scene.

* ImprobableHairstyle: One of the things that defines some forms of VisualKei, specifically Visual Shock and Kote Kei.

* LanguageBarrier: One reason VisualKei is often inaccessible to Westerners, despite the best efforts of some Japanese bands such as Music/XJapan and the non-Japanese bands to avert it.

* LighterAndSofter: Oshare Kei. It's also TheScrappy of Visual Kei, as in it's the genre most likely to be hated/not taken seriously by other VisualKei artists and by fans of any other genre.

** In some cases, the bands themselves are a source of MindScrew, due to their bizarre appearance (relative to most HardRock[=/=]HeavyMetal acts anyway) and to an extent, their videos and live performances. Nagoya and Eroguro bands tend to invoke MindScrew more than other bands, but in a particular case of an entire band being MindScrew incarnate, there is the post-VisualKei band Music/DirEnGrey, who have taken NightmareFuel, SurrealHorror and TrueArtIsIncomprehensible UpToEleven through their songs, videos, and live performances ([[WidgetSeries and elsewhere for that matter]]). Another band, Kuroyume, approaches the same level of craziness - but whether they kickstarted the whole MindScrew thing in VisualKei or not is highly debatable

* MightyWhitey: DoubleSubverted: The bands that inspired VisualKei were American and Western bands mostly composed of white people, but there have been very few successful Western Visual Kei artists white or otherwise, and those that have been successes have been so ''not'' by rewriting the rules of the scene, telling the Japanese what to do, or similar.

* OhCrap: Often an InvokedTrope for some bands, but there have been some ''real'' OhCrap moments in VisualKei:

* RearrangeTheSong: Early on, most retakes/rearrangements/remixes/demos were released with the "studio version" or "primary version" as b-sides or "special presents" or similar. Remixes/rearrangements took on a life of their own as VisualKei grew, and many artists and bands will release entire albums consisting solely of remixed and rearranged songs.
** This is also the work of the rising amount of DJ type artists within the scene, although many are original artists as well - the idea of DJ/beatmaker as solely remixing and playing others' work is ''not'' much wanted in a scene heavily dependent on live shows, so DJ s and beatmakers and the like working within VisualKei ''have'' to be capable of their own original electronic works and/or at least some form of truly unique appearance and style.

* VampiresAreSexGods: A very, very, VERY common idea in VisualKei, enough to make "vampire" a competitive field featuring [[Music/YoshikiHayashi Yoshiki]], Music/{{Hyde}}, Atsushi Sakurai of Music/BuckTick, Music/{{Gackt}} and Kamijo ex- Music/{{Versailles}}, among others.

* Music/{{Vocaloid}}, arguably. Some Vocaloid characters are directly based on and voiced by ''actual'' Visual artists, notable examples include Gakupo (designed after and voiced by Music/{{Gackt}}) and Lily (designed after and voiced by Yuri of m.o.v.e.)
** Visual Kei Band Vanan'Ice (consisting of Gakupo, Len, and KAITO).

* Music/{{Lareine}}[[note]]Also see Music/{{Versailles}} and Manga/RoseOfVersailles[[/note]] - Neoclassical pop rock band notable for drawing heavy inspiration from French royalty, never mind that [[Manga/RoseOfVersailles Ryoko Ikeda]] designed everything from the band's costumes to their album covers.

* {{Music/Versailles}}[[note]]Also see Music/{{Lareine}}, Music/HizakiGraceProject and Music/{{Jupiter}}[[/note]] - One of Japan's biggest and most recognized heavy metal bands before its dissolution in 2012. The band's French aristocrat-inspired visual style is apparently a ShoutOut to the manga ''Manga/RoseOfVersailles''.

** To a breed of Website/YouTube commenter who shares a combination of Western UsefulNotes/MisplacedNationalism and homophobia, Visual Kei is itself NauseaFuel, as well as [[InternetBackdraft Rage]] [[{{Troll}} Fuel]].

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Aliene_Mariage1_6812.jpg]]

* AxCrazy: Some bands (generally Eroguro or Visual Shock bands, but Nagoya Kei sometimes as well) take posing as this trope UpToEleven, at least for specific members, and many songs go around people with the theme. Then there are the few people who are AxCrazy {{Jerkass}}es offstage - Wataru from the band 12012, who ended up in court for choking somebody after a night of heavy drinking, is one famous case.
* TheBabyTrap: Happens, unfortunately, due to the distaste many male artists in the scene have for using condoms.

* {{Jerkass}}: There are quite a few of them in the scene.
* HiddenHeartOfGold: ''Far'' more common than actual jerkasses, if only that people are advised to keep up an act if they don't wish to be bothered by the LoonyFan and GroupieBrigade and others (because it's common wisdom that being seen as a NiceGuy just welcomes tons of undesirable people while [[AllGirlsWantBadBoys turning off]] [[BastardBoyfriend alpha females]]), and/or it's part of several popular stage images/public images.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: ''Many'' artists who maintain the JerkassFacade or who really are kind of jerks can also be really cool/intelligent/caring people in other circumstances or in general.
* JerkWithAHeartOfJerk: On the other hand, some people really do want to seek unnecessary attention, play SmallNameBigEgo and AttentionWhore blindingly straight, just hurt and upset other people, start drama and trouble, cause problems for anyone they can, and never take responsibility or do anything that could mitigate people's opinions of them as being anything but jerks.

** JerkassFacade: ''Far'' more common than actual jerkasses, if only that people are advised to keep one up if they don't wish to be bothered by the LoonyFan and GroupieBrigade and others (because it's common wisdom that being seen as a NiceGuy just welcomes tons of undesirable people while [[AllGirlsWantBadBoys turning off]] [[BastardBoyfriend alpha females]]), and/or it's part of several popular stage images/public images.

** A lyrical case involves Music/DirEnGrey's ''Mazohyst Of Decadence,'' which, ripped from its context of abortion being a primary method of birth control in Japan, seems like a right-wing anti-abortion rant and VictimBlaming, when it's actually lashing out at a society that refuses to acknowledge the need for birth control and sex education and uses the ''most'' painful and traumatizing last-ditch procedure as a substitute for preventing pregnancy in the first place.

* PaedoHunt: Can be invoked in the scene, usually when band members are seen in the company of teenage girls, and/or a teenage or prepubescent girl is cast for a PerformanceVideo. Oddly enough, does ''not'' apply to boys - teenage boys hanging around older bandmen [[VictimBlaming are often seen as]] juvenile JapaneseDelinquents in sketchy situations, and as simply learning as musicians with more respected artists.

* KenjiSawada ([[UrExample proto-Visual Kei]], when it was an UnbuiltTrope)

* CashCowFranchise: While many Visual artists break out into the mainstream, there aren't a lot who gain popularity outside the music industry, but those who do become living, breathing, walking examples of this trope, spawning loads and loads of [[TheMerch merchandise]], as well as [[FountainOfExpies legions of imitators]]. Notable examples include {{Gackt}}, Music/TMRevolution, Mana, and both Music/{{Yoshiki|Hayashi}} and Music/{{hide|toMatsumoto}} of X Japan (the last being a case of DeadArtistsAreBetter / VindicatedByHistory)

* [[HighClassCallGirl High Class Escort]]: Prostitution is rampant in Visual Kei. Many indie artists can't afford to finance their bands and due to the stigma of being in a Visual Kei band they often can't get a conventional job. The result is that many VK artists engage in "Mitsu" (dating or having sex with fans for money) or work in host clubs. Even some of the popular VK artists such as {{Gackt}} and [[Music/YoshikiHayashi Yoshiki]] have histories working as hosts.

* IdolSinger: Visual Kei has the gender-inverted version: [[SpearCounterpart young men]] [[PrettyBoy that sparkle]]. More often than not, they are ex-band members or members of active bands who become [[BreakupBreakout breakout stars]], either through recognition for their sheer musical prowess or being chosen for their [[{{Bishonen}} handsome image]] and charismatic personality. Their careers are also more long-lived, lasting well over the typical [[ChristmasCake 25-year age limit]]. Good examples would be {{Gackt}}, Atsushi Sakurai of Music/BuckTick and Music/TakanoriNishikawa.

* VampiresAreSexGods: A very, very, VERY common idea in VisualKei, enough to make "vampire" a competitive field featuring [[Music/YoshikiHayashi Yoshiki]], Music/{{Hyde}}, Atsushi Sakurai of Music/BuckTick, {{Gackt}} and Kamijo ex- Music/{{Versailles}}, among others.

* VerbalTic: Common among singers and non-singers who interview a lot alike. {{Gackt}}'s "daikishimete" is a fandom [[MemeticMutation meme]] when he sings, as is [[Music/YoshikiHayashi Yoshiki]]'s MotorMouth and use of the PrecisionFStrike and ClusterFBomb when interviewed or speaking publicly.

* Music/MaliceMizer[[note]]Also see {{Gackt}} and Music/MoiDixMois[[/note]]

* {{Gackt}}[[note]]Also see Music/MaliceMizer[[/note]]

It is often considered a sub-genre of J-rock (a term referring to Japanese rock in general), with its roots in GlamRock, ShockRock, {{punk}}, HeavyMetal, and Kabuki Theater, though its use outside of Japan is making this somewhat an outdated definition. As is usual amongst more theatrical musical genres, the aesthetics are supposed to be as strong as the music in order to complement and enhance it, and although there have been many trends over the years there is no defining sound.

In recent years, Visual Kei has begun to be used by non-Japanese bands, especially bands in the underground metal scene. One such band is the Swedish AlternativeMetal / MelodicDeathMetal band ''Seremedy,'' which gained some mainstream success before disbanding in 2013 - and Music/{{Kerbera}}, which is led by its former vocalist SEIKE. Music/{{YOHIO}}, the former guitarist, has began a career as a solo guitarist and vocalist as well.

* CoverVersion: Most VisualKei bands start out by covering ([[{{Plagiarism}} or occasionally outright ripping off without credit]]) other VisualKei bands. More established bands will also still do covers, usually as tributes, for cover albums, or as a [[TheAtoner belated form of credit]] for past plagiarism.

** To a breed of Website/YouTube commenter who shares a combination of Western MisplacedNationalism and homophobia, Visual Kei is itself NauseaFuel, as well as [[InternetBackdraft Rage]] [[{{Troll}} Fuel]].

* {{Music/Kana}} - [[LolitaFashion Lolita]] kei artist, fashion model and pop musician.

* Music/LArcEnCiel [[note]]Also see Music/{{HYDE}} ([[IThoughtThatWas Not to be confused with]] [[Music/HidetoMatsumoto a certain X Japan guitarist]])[[/note]] - An interesting case of a band that does not refer to themselves as Visual Kei but nonetheless put a lot of effort into their image and performances. They are the co-TropeMaker for post-Visual along with Music/DynamiteTommy, and the TropeMaker for Oshare Kei.

* Music/DirEnGrey - Japan's most acclaimed and most successful VisualKei group, and [[LoveItOrHateIt arguably]] one of the [[UpToEleven most]] [[NeoclassicalPunkZydecoRockabilly unique]] bands in the modern Visual scene. In the mid-2000s, they have opted for a post-Visual image, but since 2008 they have returned to experimenting with VK. Outside VK, they are known for being the SpiritualSuccessor to Music/FaithNoMore. Also see:

** Unintentionally created by bands or artists glorifying {{Imperial Japan}}ese or [[ThoseWackyNazis Nazi]] imagery or atrocities.