by: Rosa Wuri Amurti (081214049)
Recently, the term of Visual Kei has been well developed among the Japanese culture fans in Indonesia. As the time goes by, this unique term gains more and more fans. However, what actually is Visual Kei? What makes it so attractive especially for Indonesian people? How does it develop in Indonesia? And how do people react toward Indonesian Visual Kei fans? So, I wrote this article to further discuss about it.
According to jrockrae.wordpress.com, Visual Kei, or Visual style, is “one of Japanese music subcultures where we can hear pop-like songs alongside the hard metal tunes”. What is interesting from this unique music subculture is that it also sells style: a style of androgynous beautiful men who dress like girls that might seem weird for most people. Visual Kei, which has many different types: Visual Kei, Angura Kei, Oshare Kei, Eroguro Kei, etc; has been developing throughout the world. It has been gaining more and more fans in America, Europe, and Asia, especially in Indonesia.
Since 2005, Visual Kei has become a trend in Indonesia followed by the birth of several Visual kei fans communities that do Visual Kei cosplay, and also some local bands that cover Visual Kei bands’ songs that we can find in every Japanese Culture Festival all over Indonesia. For example, in Yogyakarta, there is a community named Shimatta which members are Visual Kei fans. This community always holds a gathering every Sunday afternoon at UPT UGM to share the latest info they have about visual kei and also latest music released. Some of the members also form visual kei bands like D n C, Watershield, and the AgonY which are very famous among Japanese culture fans in Jogjakarta.
Just like the fans in other countries, Visual Kei brings a huge influence to Indonesian fans. Visual Kei fans in Indonesia tend to be very unique. They are very multitalented and creative. Most of Visual Kei fans are not just fans who will freakily shout at the television when they see their idol or hope that they will meet their idols and get their signatures. I can guarantee that most of them are good musicians, good writers, and good illustrators.
In Indonesia, fan-boys or otaku1 tend to be musicians; who also dress beautifully like girls. We can find at least ten visual kei bands in big cities like Jakarta, Semarang, Surabaya, Jogjakarta, etc. They cover bands like L’Arc en Ciel, the GazettE, Dir en grey, Deluhi, etc. Moreover, as you know, Jrocks and Elven previously are bands that cover L’Arc en Ciel, a famous visual kei band in Japan, and now, they have achieved great success in Indonesian music industry with their visual kei influence. Let’s just wait who will next bring Visual Kei influence in Indonesian music industry.
Some fan-girls or fujoushi2 are also musicians. They usually become vocalists of visual kei band. However, most of them tend to be artists; either writers or illustrators. We can find their good writing on the internet (especially in livejournal.com) as a form of English or Indonesian fan-fiction, stories in which their favorite Visual Kei artists become the characters. We can also find their good drawing of Visual Kei artists on deviantart or other websites. However, if you hate gayness, don’t you dare to browse their works because most of their works contain male and male relationship. “I write yaoi3 fan-fictions because I don’t want to see my idols going out with girls. I prefer them being gay than seeing them with girls.” Akichuu, one of famous Indonesian fan-fiction writers said.
Despite its fast development, Visual Kei still becomes a minority in Indonesia. It is because common people’s point of view that considers Visual Kei appearance is weird. Besides Japanese language is not really as common as English, most of the music is not too easy listening for Indonesian people who are more accustomed to pop music. The style of Visual Kei artists is also not common for Indonesian people that think that beautiful men who dress like girls must be gays, drag-queens, or other bad stereotypes. As time goes by, such insult becomes nothing but a minor sting for Indonesian Visual Kei fans.
As we have seen, nowadays, many people dress like Visual Kei artists. We can even find them in public places like mall or even campus, because Visual Kei somehow has already become a part of their lives. Some people may think that they are weird, gay, deviant, and strange. However they are not like what most people think. They have a principal that they think is right. So, as good Indonesian people, we should appreciate and accept them the way they are.
1 otaku : male fans
2 fujyoshi : female fans
3 yaoi : boy and boy’s love
References:
Anonimous. Japanese music in america. Jrock & the Visual Kei 2.0. Retrieved February 2, 2010, from http://jrockrae.wordpress.com/about
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