Visual kei

Visual kei (Japanese: ヴィジュアル系 or ビジュアル系, Hepburn: Vijuaru kei or Bijuaru kei, lit. "Visual Style"), abbreviated v-kei (V系, Bui kei), is a music scene and movement that originated in Japan during the early 1980s. Originally influenced by glam rock and other 1970s rock music styles, visual kei musicians incorporate varying levels of make-up, elaborate hairstyles and costumes, often coupled with an androgynous aesthetic. The term visual kei was coined in the 1990s and is sometimes also called a music genre or style, similar to Shibuya-kei. However, there are no defined characteristics for the music played by visual kei acts, and whether or not one is considered a part of the movement is based solely on their having an emphasis on visuals and performance.

Visual kei was pioneered by groups such as X Japan, Dead End, Buck-Tick, D'erlanger and Color, and gained further notoriety in the 1990s through the success of groups like Luna Sea, Glay, L'Arc-en-Ciel and Malice Mizer. The movement's success continued through the 2000s with Gackt and more musically broad bands such as Dir En Grey, the Gazette, Alice Nine, Girugamesh and Versailles, a period which some critics term "neo-visual kei" (ネオ・ヴィジュアル系). Many acts tone-down their appearance upon achieving mainstream success, calling into question whether they are still to be considered visual kei.