Visual kei/Playing With

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Basic Trope: A genre of music based on visual artistry and stagecraft being as important as the music, which originated in Japan but can be and is used by non-Japanese musicians.

  • Played Straight: A musician or artist dresses and acts per as expected for one of the listed types of Visual Kei, and incorporates this into his or her stage shows.
  • Exaggerated: hide, Gackt, and similar artists whose entire life is Visual Kei to the point that it is nigh impossible to determine any line between performance, identity, lifestyle, and more.
  • Inverted: A Japanese rock band that loathes Visual Kei and doesn't think anyone related to it is a "real artist." Sigh would be such an example among others, as would the majority of the 80s metal scene such as it was that saw then new bands such as X Japan and SEIKIMA-II as OTT and damaging to the image of "real metal."
  • Justified: The musician or artist is a fan and admirer of Visual Kei and wants to do it for himself or herself.
    • The musician or artist doesn't necessarily like Visual Kei but realizes there is money to be made there. More common in the old days - Visual Kei is most definitely NOT a moneymaking venture in and of itself in most places as of The New Tens. However, VKB 48 was an attempt at this.
    • The musician or artist is GLBTQIA and noticed opportunities for a not-straight and proud artist in Visual Kei.
    • The musician or artist isn't necessarily devoted to or interested in Visual Kei but is performing a tribute show for a Visual Kei artist or is doing a photoshoot with Visual Kei artists or in a magazine generally devoted to Visual Kei.
    • The musician or artist wants to experiment with doing something different.
  • Subverted: A Japanese rock or metal band that simply doesn't care about visuals.
    • Double Subverted: The band that simply doesn't care about visuals looks Visual Kei and arguably does it better than some avowed Visual Kei bands.
  • Deconstructed: The dark underbelly of Visual Kei is thoroughly on display and it's Darker and Edgier than ever. The need for money and inability to get money via normal work driving everything from Compensated Dating to Yakuza involvement, So Bad It's Horrible performances focused more on visuals and Fan Service simply created to keep bringing the fangirls and money in as opposed to any artistic merit, the worst excesses of Sex, Drugs and Rock and Roll, everyone's at best a Functional Addict and at worst The Alcoholic or Off the Wagon, everyone is in some way The Mentally Disturbed, Fan Dumb and Hate Dumb drive the fandom, the only way to live is to keep shoveling in the cash, the only way to die is Driven to Suicide, Never Suicide, or becoming terminally ill. Visual Kei is a Crapsack World that no one sane would even want to consider.
  • Reconstructed: All of the above exists, but it isn't to the degree that some say. Some artists do legitimately make money either via their art or via more acceptable ways than prostituting themselves or organized crime. For varied reasons, the Japanese scene is beginning to decouple from the Yakuza and Visual Kei artists may not even know or care about them one way or the other outside of Japan. A fair percentage of artists do indeed care about art and that is why they've chosen the genre. The worst excesses of Sex, Drugs and Rock and Roll are beginning to ebb, with some artists going sober and others becoming aware of danger, if not sober. Visual Kei has become, for better or less, somewhat self-supporting, and non-Japanese scenes are bringing in new artists, new styles, and more creativity.
  • Lampshaded: "The last time I saw someone in that much makeup was at a club in Shinjuku."
  • Parodied: A non-Visual Kei band dresses in Stylistic Suck Visual Kei and/or puts on a performance that is the very worst possible mockery of Visual Kei possible in order to piss off Visual Kei fans or to give its fanbase something to laugh at.
  • Averted: A musician or artist is simply not Visual Kei. He or she doesn't hate or bear a grudge against the genre as in inverted, it's just not his or her style or scene.
    • A Visual Kei fan stays just that - an uninvolved fan. They don't adapt anything of the scene to their lifestyle, their appearance stays very normal, they do not even consider joining in as an artist or a musician, or necessarily even supporting one in any way aside from maybe buying some music or going to a show.
  • Enforced: A Visual Kei band, obviously, though some exceptions exist there - generally toward the Legacy Character side. (If a member of a Visual Kei band is vital to it and chooses to drop the style, he may well remain a member depending on how vital his skills or his name is to the band. Pata in X Japan is a good example of this - saying he is currently Visual Kei is stretching the trope to its limit, but he is the surviving original guitarist, his skills can't be replaced, and he is vital to the band, so most fans are more than willing to overlook that he no longer is technically "visual."
    • A club or tour only open to Visual Kei acts.
    • Visual Kei labels. Good luck signing to Extasy or Free Will in the late 80s - early 90s or to Under Code or Sherow Artist Society in The New Tens if you're not Visual Kei in some way or another.
    • A venue or show whose dress code is some form of Visual Kei.
    • In most cases, the pit and especially reserved seating, if it exists at a Visual Kei show in either Japan or the US, is considered to be this in many cases - for the hardcore fans and for other artists seeing the show. It is not simply for uninvolved fans or people who don't care about the band. Only if you want to start a fight (at least online if not in Real Life should you take a place in the pit near an artist you care little to nothing about or you hate or in reserved seating with a good view of the stage.
  • Invoked: A new Visual Kei band forms or debuts.
  • Defied: A band leaves Visual Kei per se, whether or not it continues to use elements from it, and proclaims itself no longer Visual Kei and lists another genre.
    • A band that could be considered Visual Kei but isn't (see Double Subverted above) refuses the label and insists it is not.
    • An artist or musician realizes he or she has no talent for Visual Kei and quits the genre.
  • Discussed: A discussion thread on Visual Kei.
  • Conversed: Two Visual Kei artists discuss the scene, an upcoming live show, or trade tips on something related to Visual Kei.
  • Played For Laughs: Detroit Metal City's take on Visual Shock per SEIKIMA-II style.
  • Played For Drama: Someone is using Visual Kei to exploit the scene and other artists and fans within it.
    • A Visual Kei artist's lifestyle (see Deconstruction) becomes the plot point of a crime drama or medical drama.
    • In Real Life, a Visual Kei artist dies of something tragic, especially at a young age.
    • A Darker and Edgier or balanced drama piece about someone's or a band's life within the Visual Kei scene.
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