Subgenres and Visual Kei: Everyone is Wrong Except Me

For as long as I’ve known about visual kei, I’ve read (and perpetrated) a bunch of the misunderstandings of the genre that were formed in the Western fandom – whether just as a product of passing around incorrect information over the years or dubious translation. Perhaps the most egregious source for bad information has been lists of subgenres. Trying to fracture a genre of music that isn’t a genre of music at all into subgenres is truly brave, and over time the definitions and the sense of relevance attached to many of these subgenres has been flat out incorrect.

In this article-cum-thinkpiece no one asked for, I have both researched and spouted off about my feelings about subgenres and visual kei. A special shout out goes to John, who I probably cucked out of material for vk.gy by writing this after he mentioned he needed to cover the topic there one day. (Sorry!)


The List of Subgenres

Looking into visual kei, you will quickly be introduced to the concept of subgenres via articles older than god listing every microgenre under the sun with incomplete information. Commonly listed subgenres include:

  • Nagoya-kei
  • Sofubi
  • Kote-kei
  • “Oshare”-kei
  • Koteosa
  • Angura
  • Eroguro-kei
  • Misshitsu-kei/Chikashitsu-kei
  • Tanbi-kei
  • Iryou-kei

And I’ll also introduce one that is never listed in Western lists but should be:

  • Loud-kei

I was put on this earth to be a horrible pedant so I will go through each of these and tell you if it’s real, if it’s dead, and what it is.

Nagoya-kei(名古屋系)

Is it real? Yes, but everybody uses it wrong
Is it dead? Yes, it died somewhere between 1995-2001 and is buried under a sakura tree

When I first encountered “Nagoya-kei”, it was applied primarily to deadman and their “brother” bands at the time, GULLET and Blast. The frequent definition will mention that the band should originate and operate primarily at some point in the city of Nagoya, and that the bands in this genre have a distinctly gloomy or dark vibe, leaning further from metal and more toward deathrock, industrial, no wave, and post-punk stylings. This definition is actually the same across both western and Japanese circles, so we’re not off to a terrible start. But while deadman has more or less become the poster child for Nagoya-kei in the West, it turns out that Japanese Nagoya-kei fans might very much disagree with this, because their definition includes one more important aspect: time period.

For Japanese fans of visual kei, Nagoya-kei often refers very specifically to bands who fulfilled this criteria in the early 90s. These bands were often influenced by D’ERLANGER, ZI:KILL or BUCK-TICK (or just the general theater involved in the visual kei genre), but also a desire to incorporate influences from non-visual kei post-punk bands like ASYLUM or Gastunk. The post-punk (or “positive punk” in Japan) and deathrock boom in Japan was very formative for the general sound of subculture music in the late 80s/early 90s, so it was really only a matter of time before it was married with the drama and conflama of visual kei, which was having its own boom. Silver~Rose and Kuroyume were considered the “giants” of this trend in Nagoya, with Laputa, Sleep my Dear, FANATIC◇CRISIS, ROUAGE and (my personal favorites) Merry go round often cited as other major players.

Merry go round’s absolute banger “sakura no mankai no ki no shita de”.

By the strictest of definitions, which many Japanese fans of 90s visual kei stand by, Nagoya-kei ended with these bands, long before players like deadman entered the scene. But then why are deadman and company so heavily associated with the genre? The second half of the 1990s introduced what is sometimes known as second generation of Nagoya-kei or post-Nagoya-kei with the formation of Lustair, Lamiel, and kein. Bands like Poisonous Doll, syster, and Sally (later schellen) are also sometimes grouped into this category. Whether or not 2nd gen Nagoya-kei is really Nagoya-kei or not is quite subjective, so when it comes to the third generation of Nagoya bands made of members recycled from the 2nd gen – deadman, GULLET, Blast, Phobia, and not-Nagoyan-but-heavily-influenced acts D’elsquel and babysitter, things are even less distinct. Occasionally fourth gen Nagoya bands like DEATHGAZE and lynch. even get painted with the label, even though both of these bands were much more influenced by early 2000s alternative metal boom acts like Slipknot, KoRN, and Static X, bringing drop tuning and modern heaviness that Hazuki from lynch. maintains is not at all part of the Nagoya-kei sound. More recent Nagoya acts like Arlequin or more notably, AvelCain, have also sometimes been associated with the genre in and out of Japan, to much debate.

At this point, Nagoya-kei seems to represent more of a sound or a vibe to westerners, which is why bands like 9GOATS BLACK OUT and emmuree are repeatedly lumped in with the genre exclusively on Western lists despite not even fulfilling the most basic criteria of being based out of Nagoya. There is no basis for these bands to be considered Nagoya-kei except Western misinformation and a shared influence of Japanese positive punk/deathrock. At this point, Nagoya-kei should really have no application to living bands unless it’s being invoked to indicate the kinds of bands that serve as a source of inspiration.

In the end, Nagoya-kei is supposed to refer to the first wave of visual kei bands inspired by both visual kei and Japanese post-punk in Nagoya, and maybe the bands created by their immediate successors, but in the West it remains a term applied to any visual kei band that is sufficiently aloof and goth.

Sofubi(ソフビ)

Is it real? Yes
Is it dead? Yes, it died in the 90s, unless you count every time a band drops visual kei to sell more CDs

This is visual kei for people in the 90s who hated visual kei. This is the visual kei you can take home to your mom. Sofubi, “soft visual kei”, was a genre that stood in stark contrast to the dramatics of the other main 90s subgenre, kote-kei. Sofubi bands wore light makeup and generally adopted a more mainstream, poppy sound. GLAY, Sophia, SIAM SHADE, Janne Da Arc, and many others that are almost entirely forgotten in the West due to being fully unremarkable fall into this category. Complaints about visual kei bands suddenly dropping the look, acquiring a major contract and acting like they never wore feather boas and pleather have always been present in this scene, but this pattern really developed with sofubi.

Yes, somehow SIAM SHADE was visual kei.

In the early to mid 90s, visual kei was the new hotness, and some of the major players like Ryuichi of LUNA SEA and Atsushi Sakurai of BUCK-TICK were cutting their long hair or dropping the makeup. It was time to lose the black suits. Bands like SIAM SHADE who looked up to these forerunners were quick to notice the change in aesthetics and traded in the black clothes for suntans. This was an era where any rock band that looked at an eyeliner pencil for too long was liable to be classified as visual kei, and an era where bands started to actively fight being labeled “visual kei” by the press, because it was no longer cool to be like, depressed or whatever. These bands also represent the golden age of visual kei in the mainstream, when the genre got frequent mainstream play and television appearances, which may run counter to your expectations since only a select few of them get any recognition in the West. But it makes sense – this was way easier to digest.

A lot of the bands who started the sofubi trend also worked to kill it. Nagoya-kei band Kuroyume’s breakout into the mainstream is a good example of this: Kuroyume went with a more pop-oriented sound and stripped down look in 1994-1996 as the wave dictated, but in 1997 with DRUG TREATMENT and CORKSCREW, they pivoted to a more punk sound and look.

Although this term sometimes is used to refer to modern bands like SID who are only ambiguously visual kei, it’s more common to just call what they do the term that refers to the pattern of dropping visual kei after a certain level of success – 脱ヴィジュアル系 (datsu-visual kei). Sofubi on the other hand is once again less of a subgenre and more of a movement, a group of bands in a certain time who influenced the overall direction of the scene.

Kote-kei(コテ系)

Is it real? Yes
Is it dead? It was, but its pestilent corpse has been resurrected many times by revival bands

This was the dominant mode for visual kei in the mid to late 90s and early 2000s before it was usurped by kote-osa.

How did we swing from sofubi in the mid 90s to kote-kei in mid-late 90s and early 2000s? Well, there really was room for duality in visual kei in the 90s, because it was popping off as a trend to the point where it had its own mainstream and its own underground. Indie scenes and labels like the Nagoya-kei movement, Matina, and Key Party were perfectly content with still being moody and freaky despite what was happening with visual kei on television. In fact, the existence of mainstream, “friendly” visual kei probably just encouraged them to carve out a more edgy niche so they could call SIAM SHADE & company posers. Kote-kei is what happened when people doubled down on keeping visual kei dark – it is almost a caricature, and that’s why it fucking slaps.

So the guitarist and bassist are royal siblings in an incestuous relationship, and the vocalist is their mentally unstable son? Cool. Cool cool cool.

Everyone loves Kote-kei because unlike so many of these other subgenres, you know it when you see it. Pleather? Fake blood? Black teardrop makeup? Roses? Mesh? Spider-web? Corsets? It is peak end 90s/early 2000s goth, it is corny and flamboyant and completely unapologetic about it. Bands in this genre include Madeth Gray’ll, Syndrome, and basically everyone else on Matina, Aliene Ma’riage, Eliphas Levi, and basically everyone else on Key Party, early Dir en grey, and roughly 9 million more.

I should have just posted this instead of writing this section.

Maybe because of how unbelievably distinct it is and the fact that it represents the golden age of Visual kei, Kote-kei is also one of the subgenres/eras with the strongest cult followings in Japan and the West. People cannot get enough of this shit, which is why revival bands and bands that call to some of the tropes and sounds of Kote-kei keep cropping up. Grieva, who I love dearly, were essentially a Kote-kei era Dir en grey cover band – and it worked. More modern bands like Metis Gretel, La’veil MizeriA, Marvelous Cruelty, and Labaiser have adopted the OG Kote-kei aesthetic to varying degrees of authenticity.

This video is from 2019. The dedication.

Osare-kei(オサレ系、お洒落系)

Is it real? Yes, but everybody spelled it wrong for 8 years and we can never go back
Is it dead? Yes, it died in the early 2010s

The poppy, bright little subgenre known as “Oshare”-kei that started and flourished in in the mid 2000s is embodied by bands like Ancafe, SuG, and Panic*Ch. Its creation is often credited to Baroque. This genre offered an opportunity for visual kei to reconnect with and influence changing Harajuku fashions. Decora and fairy-kei fashions are often associated with the genre. Sonically, traditional VK tropes and structures were still used extensively, but after years about singing about blood and madness and incest, lyrics tended to take on themes of innocence, love and friendship to match the brighter looks. Some bands played these themes straight, while some used them with a sense of irony. Not as toothless as Sofubi, but more interested in youthful exuberance. Basically, this was happy hardcore for visual kei.

Ancafe, featuring the most cosplayed visual kei member of all time, Bou. (This is not a real stat but it’s probably true.)

But did you know it’s not called oshare-kei at all? The term actually used is オサレ系 – Osare-kei. To be fair, osare was just a trendy 2000s net slang way of saying お洒落 (oshare, stylish/fashionable), and the term was sometimes written as お洒落系, so it’s easy to see how the mistransliteration ended up being spread. But the fact of the matter is, trying to talk to a Japanese bangya about “oshare-kei” will probably make them wonder why you keep mispronouncing it. It’s also reflected in the term コテオサ (Koteosa), used for bands that incorporated a hybrid of Kote-kei and Osare-kei elements (i.e. basically every band in the mid 2000s).

Furthermore, the term osare-kei all but died by the 2010s, usurped by the current descriptor of young, energetic bands with a pop sound – キラキラ (kirakira, sparkly).

Kote-Osa(コテオサ)

Is it real? Yes
Is it dead? It evolved into something else by the mid 2010s.

This term doesn’t really get much discussion, and I think it’s because it’s just what visual kei bands were at the time when a lot of subgenre descriptions were being written in the West in the late 00s to the early/mid 10s, and certain people hated osare-kei so much that the idea that every band was borrowing from them a little was inconceivable. If Osare-kei was all about fashion trends and youthful joy, and Kote-kei was about being disturbing and goth to the point of parody, Kote-osa was the response for bands who didn’t want to go full cutesy pop but still acknowledged that Kote-kei needed an update to fit with modern sensibilities. Feather boas and fake-rose studded hats at this point would prompt younger fans to say “ew, what is this, a band my mom followed 10 years ago?”

I created this helpful image after rigorous study. It is beyond criticism.

PS Company acts were at the center of this trend with Alice Nine and The GazettE. Under Code Productions was also a label that produced major kote-osa acts like Vidoll, 12012. and Phantasmagoria. Aicle, KuRt, Irokui, Ayabie, and 176BIZ are all fairly representative too. This style existed in the early 2000s as well, led by bands like Hanamuke, late era Gill’e Cadith, and very early Gazette, who all had a punky-trendy look, but it really came into its own by the middle of the decade. The trend may seem difficult to categorize at first as certain bands leaned more toward the kote aesthetic (e.g. 12012 or Phantasmagoria) and certain others leaned more toward the osare side (e.g. Ayabie and Aicle), but the mid-late 2000s were sort of a free for all where bands could mix the trendy with the edgy in whatever proportion they desired.

Kote-osa is also the era where Visual kei’s association with sex work, hookups, and anonymous board culture really came into effect. Of course bands in the 90s and early 2000s had groupies, but in the mid 00s, the rise of the internet made it easier than ever for bandmen and fans to, uh, connect. The nefarious message board Tanuki was born from a series of other anonymous board closures during the Kote-osa boom and has been a staple of the scene ever since.

Is Kote-osa still a subgenre? Kind of, but no one calls modern bands by that name. I would argue that the current round of popular visual kei bands, especially the ones who adopt menhera trends and themes, are the evolution of Kote-osa, but there’s no specific name for what they’re doing yet. It may take time before we can more clearly delineate where Kote-osa ended and where current Visual kei began.

Loud-kei(ラウド系)

Is it real? Yes
Is it dead? No

This is the little subgenre that the Western world forgot to talk about. So in the mid 2000s, osare and kote-osa were entirely the move for most of Visual kei, but there were some bands who were not about that life at all. Thanks to a little thing called nu-metal taking off globally, there were a bunch of Limp Bizkit, KoRn, and Slipknot lovers ready to take the reins. Many of these bands were also inspired by Dir en grey who were still doing their gritty thing at this point, regardless of the new wave. If you like Vulgar (2003), this was the genre you hitched your wagon to. It was time for some fresh faces to capture the niche and get people into this hot shit, that rock shit and bounce in the mosh pit.

Loud-kei.

Bands that fit into this category include MUCC, girugamesh, Sadie, lynch., DEATHGAZE, UnsraW, and tons more. The fourth gen and fifth gen of Nagoya visual kei is extremely closely related to this genre – in addition to those frontrunners lynch. and DEATHGAZE, there was also their juniors: meth., °C, Maverick/EAT YOU ALIVE, and gemmik. Even NOCTURNAL BLOODLUST, Dexcore and Deviloof are fit into this category due to their Western metal influences, although they lean much further into deathcore and metalcore. Basically, if you are about throwing down and combining Western metal with Visual kei, this is where you belong, even now.

Also Loud-kei.

The amount of visual flair allowed in this genre is flexible. You had girugamesh, who inspired many bands to adopt black suits and converse, but you also had Sadie, who tended to have more of a kote-osa look (and were arguably between kote-osa and loud-kei). Nocturnal Bloodlust has been pretty damn Visual kei looking and hardly Visual kei looking at all. @heiligenstadt reminded me to bring this up, but since Loud-kei is also a broad genre of hardcore/alt metal influenced non-visual kei bands (think Pay Money to my Pain, coldrain, SiM, Crossfaith, Fear, and loathing in Las Vegas, etc.), this might explain why even Loud-kei visual kei bands sometimes oscillate between visual and less visual. In recent years, some Loud-kei visual bands have even managed to break into non-vk Loud-kei events, so this particular subgenre seems like it has some crossover appeal (although the Visual kei bands are often having to fight preconceptions about their “home” genre).

This subgenre relies much more on influence and sound as a definition than look. The term 暴れ盤 (abare-ban), used to describe bands that have less hand-waving furi and more fist-pumping and headbanging, is also associated with this style of music.

Angura-kei/Eroguro-kei/Misshitsu-kei/Chikashitsu-kei (アングラ系・エログロ系・密室系・地下室系)

Is it real? Kinda
Is it dead? The bands in this subgenre simply do not disband.

Surprise, these are all the same thing. Well, not really, but in the end I think they’re all trying to refer to the same thing: fringe visual kei. Visual kei that is too weird in some way even for visual kei, but too visual kei to hang out exclusively with non-visual kei bands. They do share some influences with the art scenes and non-visual kei scenes as well, but in the end there’s too much variation to really call these anything but weird, edgy-artsy odds and ends with the odd crossover success like MUCC or Merry.

Angura-kei and eroguro-kei are poorly understood by many Visual kei fans in and out of Japan, and I’m not entirely sure eroguro-kei was ever really a subgenre in Japan. It’s maybe best to look at the progression of eroticism and deviancy in art in Japan to understand how it came to be. There was erotic art since at least the Heian period of Japan, although more famous examples of premodern Japanese erotic art were Edo era woodblock prints (ukiyo-e) depicting erotic scenes, one of the most famous being a woman enjoying sexual congress with a giant octopus. The Edo period was characterized by intense hedonism and extravagance, and these themes would emerge again during the Taisho era. “Eroguro” refers to the “erotic grotesque nonsense” genre of art and writing born in the tail end of Taisho Japan after WWI, which seeks to explore themes of deviancy, absurdity, and the unnatural – a return to the Edo period fascination with pleasure. WWII again brought Japan to another era of austerity and little time to think about fleshly desires, but just like before, another post-war interest in these themes flared. Carnal literature, pornography, sexology and a general interest in sex arose. (This also coincides with the genesis of hentai, which you can read about in this great article.)

By the 1960s, the sexual revolution was at hand, and the “angura” movement was born. “Angura” refers to “underground” and subculture at large, but in Japan it is strongly linked with post-WWII avantgarde art, angura theatre (especially Shuuji Terayama). and the dance artform of Butoh. Angura was heavily influenced by eroguro before it, and just like its predecessors, it did not shy away from the uncomfortable and sexual.

One of Shuuji Terayama’s avantgarde films, which displays many of the visual cues associated with this area of visual kei.

The impact of these artistic movements reaches far beyond visual kei – you have manga artists like Suehiro Maruo, Shintaro Kago, non-vk bands of all genres like THE STALIN, Shineshine-dan, Ningen Isu, and countless more figures in corners I know nothing about. But it only seems natural for visual kei to meet another subgenre that enjoys toying with explicit and the unnatural. The poster child for eroguro is early MERRY, a band that has never shied away from its interest in angura and eroguro art. Other bands that have been considered eroguro include Kagerou, MUCC, and cali≠gari while other bands that have been considered as angura include Inugami Circus-dan, Guru guru eigakan, and cali≠gari (again). But no one, Western or Japanese, can really explain why these two categories are different – and on top of that, eroguro-kei is mentioned more in Western sources about subgenres than Japanese, leading me to believe that unlike angura it never really achieved real subgenre status.

Many Western visual kei subgenre lists will mention that bands in these two subgenres use “traditional Japanese outfits”, but they fail to mention that it is generally specifically post-war Taisho era and Showa era aesthetics, particularly the iterations presented in these artforms, that are featured. For some god forsaken reason, Kagrra,, a band that was specifically about much older eras of Japan and the associated artistic themes with no angura lens, occasionally gets lumped into this genre because of this misconception. (Yes I’m mad.)

So what about Misshitsu-kei and Chikashitsu-kei? These subgenres were comprised of bands on the “Misshitsu Neurose” label and the bands who attended the “Tokyo Chikashitsu” events it hosted. Let me get this out of the way, naming a subgenre after a label is cheating, and I will accept no further questions on the topic. This group includes cali≠gari (the blueprint), early MUCC, Inugami Circus-dan, Guru guru eigakan, early Plastic Tree, Metronome, MUNIMUNI, Shinjuku Gewalt, and even the more traditionally goth emmuree. You may notice the overlap. It’s also debatable if some of these bands are even visual kei.

cali≠gari are clearly entrenched in this subgenre, whatever you choose to call it, and I think looking into them explains exactly why this group of oddities is the way that it is. cali≠gari is a band named after a European expressionist horror film led by an openly gay man, Ao Sakurai, who has a cantankerous personality and love-hate relationship with visual kei. He hated Nagoya-kei because it was rife with fanwars despite the fact that all of the bands were more or less the same, he hated Himeji visual kei bands because they were extra and there were too many of them. And while he didn’t hate visual kei, he knew there was no place for him in the scene. In a scene supposedly full of extreme self-expression, there was still no room for an out gay man and the themes and styles he wanted to express, so he created events that drew other “fringe” vk bands together. It’s probably no coincidence that a woman like Inugami Kyouko of Inugami Circus-dan also found acceptance in this group of bands rather than visual kei at large. Even in a genre full of freaks, there are out groups and in groups.

There are certainly notable elements shared between a lot of angura bands, films, art, and other works, but I don’t know if there’s enough of them that the genre is characterized solely by the influence of angura art. So, my exciting conclusion after all this research is that angura is real, refers to all fringe vk groups that embody the tenets of visual kei and yet somehow just don’t fit in, and all of these other names for it are just unnecessary complications. (I also conclude that sukekiyo is an angura band.)

Tanbi-kei(耽美系)

Is it real? Yes
Is it dead? No because all of the key figures are immortal noble vampires, duh!

Tanbi-kei was invented by French-Canadian Parisian Mylene Farmer.

Why are you booing me? I’m right.

Just kidding, Tanbi-kei or “aesthetic style” refers to bands with themes of European nobility. Malice Mizer, Lareine, Versailles, Kaya, sometimes D – you know exactly the style this genre is referring to. Although mostly kept on life support by icons like Mana, Kaya, Kamijo, and Hizaki, occasionally a revival band pops up to try and capture some of the market. There’s not exactly an associated sound, but you are probably expecting to hear classical and symphonic influences, French titles, mentions of roses, and so on. Band members may be referred to as princes, princesses, and dukes. And at the very least, they’re wearing outfits that look like period piece costumes conceived out of Halloween supplies. Kote-kei but with Parisian romance and dignity.

The French Prince of Bel Air and Hizaki.

Perhaps because this genre, while a cornerstone of visual kei that has generated at least a few very successful bands, doesn’t actually have that many bands who adhere to the aesthetic that strictly, there hasn’t been much of an investigation into where these influences come from and why women ate them up. I suspect it may have something to do with the popularity and aesthetics of shoujo anime and manga such as The Rose of Versailles, Takarazuka theater performances of Western classics, and all the other things speculated to have led to the rise of lolita fashion. Although certainly not every lolita is a tanbi-kei fan, and not every tanbi-kei fan is a lolita, the worldviews of the two subcultures are very intertwined.

I have occasionally seen bands like Moran described as tanbi, but this is nonsense – the semi-ironic completely Western invention of “art-kei” is actually better for describing bands like Moran, More, and Develop One’s Faculties. (Unfortunately, art-kei is not real x)

Iryou-kei(医療系)

Is it real? Yes, but barely because there’s like 3 bands
Is it dead? No because GE+IM is still active

Is your visual kei band into doctor concepts? Congratulations, you’re part of the only subgenre that makes any sense because it’s based entirely on look and has nothing to do with sound or time period or esoteric art movements. Iryou-kei (“medical style”) is for the bands that dress up in lab coats and bandages and LARP as sexy nurses. This genre was exemplified by LuLu who made it part of their entire band identity by affixing “Doctor” to each member’s name, referring to shows as “examinations” and incorporating medical themes into song titles and lyrics. Their official URL was even lulu-hospital.com.

Kings of Iryou-kei, LuLu.

I guess this should probably only apply to bands for whom medical stylings are persistent (i.e. not limited to a single stage costume/promotion cycle), but if you saw a band in this sort of garb at a multi-band show and called them iryou-kei, no one would fault you. Bands that have been given this classification and fully committed to the bit include +ISOLATION, LuLu, and GE+IM. Bands like Beata and ZXS had notable medical looks but weren’t limited to them.


Well, there you have it. Now you understand visual kei subgenres more than ever, right? Me neither.

Many bands don’t fit into these categories, and many were inbetweeners or were simply before their time. For example, Gill’e Cadith started off as a Kote band, then pivoted to Kote-osa long before that look really had the associations it does now. A group like D’espairsRay seems to have been somewhere in a transitional phase between Kote-kei and Loud-kei. These are not hard and fast rules, but names applied to a few general trends, and with every trend comes artists who exemplify them, fight them, transform them, revive them, or ignore them.

I realize this bit of writing only appeals to those who want more than a list of bands who fit the bill for each category, but there are enough subpar, poorly researched descriptions of the genre that fill that role. But if you are the kind of nerd who enjoys this, I appreciate you reading it, and I hope to god I never see anyone else call Kagrra, angura ever again.

Wall of sources:
https://90s-visual-kei-vk.themedia.jp/posts/3957517/
https://dripryokutya.hatenablog.com/entry/2019/04/20/004222
https://note.com/visualkei/n/nda5b880b6363
https://fuyu-showgun.net/2018/08/vrock-kakkowarui01/
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%AF%86%E5%AE%A4%E3%83%8E%E3%82%A4%E3%83%AD%E3%83%BC%E3%82%BC
https://twitter.com/hazuki_lynch/status/689465236269637633
http://vkeiyougo.com/
https://www.dazeddigital.com/artsandculture/article/32596/1/ero-guro
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%A2%E3%83%B3%E3%83%80%E3%83%BC%E3%82%B0%E3%83%A9%E3%82%A6%E3%83%B3%E3%83%89_(%E6%96%87%E5%8C%96)#%E6%96%87%E5%8C%96%E3%81%A8%E3%81%97%E3%81%A6%E3%81%AE%E3%82%A2%E3%83%B3%E3%83%80%E3%83%BC%E3%82%B0%E3%83%A9%E3%82%A6%E3%83%B3%E3%83%89
John M. Skutlin (2016) Goth in Japan: finding identity in a spectacular subculture, Asian Anthropology, 15:1, 36-51, DOI: 10.1080/1683478X.2015.1103937
And pretty much all Western lists of subgenres that I don’t want to link here because I dragged them and they’re all wrong x

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