Part 2: Culture

Now that we're caught up on the basics of visual kei history, I want to talk about visual kei's culture, and include fan terms that would also be useful for Jyushi fans to write fanfiction!

First of all - fanservice. This was especially prevalent in the 2000s, mostly consisting of homoerotic interactions between male members - they would make out on stage, grope each other, the works. (Lots of RPF stemmed from this... I wrote them too.)

More common and still prevalent would be extremely fair and skinny bandmen showing lots and lots of skin. Booty shorts, vague straps covering one nipple, thigh highs - you can often find at least one band member who is dressed that way...

...Or, you can also find at least one bandman crossdressing or at least styled in a significantly more feminine way compared to their bandmates, with similarly feminine and sexy onstage personas.

There are bands who even have strict images 'assigned' to members. eg Minpha, bassist of Pentagon. He was not allowed to speak in the band and even his tweets were made to sound odd and childish. For a long time, his image was just baby-pink hair, an eyepatch & cutesy makeup.

Another good example is Meto, drummer of Mejibray, with a similar persona (not speaking, tweets/blogs in a strange style (iirc all katakana or hiragana)). Both also sometimes carried a stuffed toy as part of their persona - a rabbit for Minpha, and teddy bear for Meto.

There are a LOT of bandmen who appear to be scary/intimidating at first as part of their public persona, but drop it after several years and are really just normal people (and often really dorky and childish, lol). Starting to sound familiar?

(As a quick aside, it's commonly pointed out that some of the most masculine band members in terms of offstage personas are often the ones who crossdress or have the most feminine onstage personas. Make of that what you will.)

Anyway, this is mostly a form of marketing. Visual kei musicians in recent years are actually very similar to idols. They often have official looks/styles for every new release, do in-store events, and do live tours to promote their new material.

CD releases usually come in *at least* 2 versions, eg Limited Edition and Regular Edition. Bonuses are often included when you purchase physical CDs, such as a poster or a photocard. Buying CDs is also how you obtain tickets to in-store events.

In-store events are held at CD stores like Zeal Link, littleHEARTS., and Tower Records. While the bandmen do wear their official costumes for that release, they commonly wear costumes according to a theme eg crossdressing, cosplay etc, or just their own clothes.

Instores usually consist of a short talk and casual Q&A session, before moving on to the 'main event' - most common types are handshakes, CD-signing, and taking a photo with the band, or even your favourite member.

Next, lives! That's what concerts are usually called in Japan. Small bands usually start out performing at taibans - multi-band lives, where they slowly build up their fanbase. One relatively popular band usually makes a guest appearance to bring in the crowds.

Of course, not only small bands play at taibans - there are "fests" where multiple larger bands play together and are very well organised events! For example, the attached image is a poster for an event called VisUniteFest, which featured 5 very popular bands + 2 opening acts.

Live venues are called livehouses. They can be anything from a tiny underground space that barely holds 100 people, to whole halls that can fit thousands of fans. As expected, small bands start off in said tiny livehouses, which usually have bad ventilation and sound systems.

All livehouses also charge a 500yen drink fee, separate from the ticket fee. It's usually paid right before you enter, and nets you a token you can exchange for a drink at the inhouse bar. Trust me, you WILL need a drink after the live. This fee also supports the livehouse!

Livehouses commonly have a space for coin lockers, or are located near stations with them. You are expected to store all your stuff there, keeping only a small bag with your valuables/what you might need for the live (eg phone, wallet, towel, fans.)

If you aren't able to find a coin locker, or if they are all taken already, livehouses also offer a クローク ("cloak") service. Basically you pay to have the staff keep your items for you in a plastic bag, but it costs more than using a coin locker.

At taibans, you will also be asked which band you are there to see when you hand over your ticket to the staff for checking. Ticket profits are thus split proportionately.

Tickets are also often reserved/balloted for online in stages (usually fanclub, then public sales, and finally tickets you buy on the day). Tickets have to be redeemed beforehand at self-service machines like this in convenience stores.

At small, indie taibans, it's common for bandmen to tend to their own merch table before/after their sets (usually a tiny table at the back of the live venue). This also helps them win over fans, since they can talk to and connect to them!

As they grow larger and more popular, bands can eventually progress to what is called oneman lives (that means one band only, not a solo act!). By this time, they would have hired several more staff and roadies to help them out.

As for merch, bands usually make the most money from those! Common merch include チェキ (cheki, instant polaroid photos), muffler towels, and shirts. Cheki are highly valued, since they are all unique photos of the bandmen, but they are completely random.

It's common to see fans trying to exchange cheki they bought for that of their favourite members. They usually cost 500 yen, but some go up to 1000 or even 1500 yen! Here's a pic of a few of my FVQ cheki. The rest are somewhere in my cabinet, lol I'm lazy to get them out.

So, what are visual kei lives like? One major difference is that there is NO fan video recording allowed. They are EXTREMELY strict on that, though a few bands have relaxed that rule recently. Another thing you can expect is that there is NO screaming and stuff during songs.

Any screaming/calling of member names is done before/after the band appears on stage, and encore calls. In between songs, the band might also hype up the crowd by encouraging them to call out, or talk during MC (member comment) sections.

What DOES happen however, is 振付け (furitsuke, commonly shortened to just furi). Literally 'choreography', but they are synchronised hand/arm movements and headbanging that the fans do during songs!

It's very much the vkei equivalent of lightstick waving at idol concerts or fanchants at kpop concerts. In vkei however, it's usually considered rude if you don't do the furi + you're in the first few rows where the members can see you. If you're at the back you're safer, lol.

Next are some live videos where you can actually see how furi are performed! And yes, the headbanging is EXTREMELY synchronised, lol.

FEST VAINQUEUR - Gendaiteki Giwaku Toshi DOUBT!
A song performed at EVERY live, it's extremely high energy! FEST VAINQUEUR is a really great band (one of my top 3 faves!) that experiments a fair bit and always puts out quality music.

0.1g no Gosan - [S] 0723 [Shūen]
One of my top 3 bands as well, they are very versatile and experiment with many genres. They have complex furi for almost every song. Shūen is a pretty good example of their overall style!

However, some bands don't really incorporate much furi at all (maybe fist pumping at most). And ballads are usually just really quiet on the fans' side, without any furi or anything - just silently enjoying and taking in the music.

Also, fans are VERY orderly during lives. Everyone lines up in neat rows, and even while during furi that involves moving around, everyone is quick to return to the correct space that they were in. Moshing as we know it in western countries isn't really a thing.

So next up - we're discussing fans! Vkei fans are generally called バンギャル (bangyaru, band gals), then shortened to バンギャ(bangya). Male fans are called バンギャ男 (bangya-o, band gal boys.) No word on a gender neutral term, so bangya is the usual catch-all term.

Many fans like to dress up for lives, and I have seen plenty of bangya in full-on Lolita outfits headbanging their necks off during lives. But the fancy clothes stop at the ankles... cos everyone likes to wear comfy crocs for lives. :D

My experience with bangya has been generally neutral, but I have heard of many nasty experiences, because many appear friendly to your face while being extremely rude behind your back.

Also, bangya typically fixate on one bandman to the point of mostly ignoring the other members. I've seen cases of bangya bullying others who are fans of the same bandman, and sometimes even "accidentally" injuring them while doing furi at lives.

Fandom names are not really a big thing, and bangya often just identify themselves as (band name)-gya and (bandman name)-gya. For example, I'm a vistlip gya. My favourite member in vistlip is Rui, so I'm a Rui gya.

Fanclubs do have names though, such as Heresy for the GazettE and VIP LiST for vistlip. They are among the few bands with fandom names, like SIXTH GUNS and Fantlip respectively. However, I don't really hear them being used much these days.

There is an anonymous forum often frequented by bangya, called Tanuki (something like 2chan). Anonymous posts abound, from rumours of bandmen relationships to bitching about other gya.

Speaking of bandmen relationships, that's a whole other can of worms. Bandmen are generally extremely private, to the point where even their real names are not known to anyone, and they are referred to exclusively by their stage names.

There are rumours of real names of course, and some bandmen are rumoured to be related to each other, but few are confirmed, if at all. I really only know of Midorikawa You (0.1g no Gosan) and Taku (Pentagon) who openly confirmed that they are brothers.

(Also, while it'd be cool to know who else are openly confirmed to be related, please don't tell me about how Bandman X and Bandman Y are related cos you heard it from somewhere, GIVE ME A CONFIRMED SOURCE.)

Like idols, bandmen are expected to not date openly, or at all. Something of an open secret however is the existence of 繋がり (tsunagari, lit. connection) and 密 (mitsu, lit. honey).

Tsunagari basically means fans who are personally connected to the band and know them privately, but are also often known to be friends with benefits.

Mitsu are one step up - fans who personally know bandmen and give them money. I saw that this term was originally 密カノ (mitsukano), lit. honey girlfriend - sugar mommies. And yes, they are known to have sex with the bandmen.

Quick disclaimer: I've seen the terms tsunagari and mitsu used interchangeably though, so maybe the line is blurring? This is however my understanding of the terms.

Also, the band 0.1g no Gosan did a whole song about such obsessive fans and tsunagari, the video of which you can view here. CW for violence and (ketchup) blood.

Song title is Yuugai Menhera Doll.

Bandmen who are confirmed to be in relationships or married tend to receive a lot of backlash (at least initially). Miyavi is one example - after his relationship with Melody was exposed, he was kicked out from his label.

Recently, in 2019, Kujou Takemasa from Kiryu also announced that he had been married since 2017. A number of fans dropped the band entirely, but there were also others who remained supportive.

The visual kei fandom can be sometimes toxic, but then again it's the same for most if not all fandoms that exist. Personally, I'm in love with much of the music, so I hope that you will find something to love too!

Part 3 here: https://twitter.com/rilarilaroll/status/1276132098655412224?s=20