Gotta give a shoutout to the pre-oshare guys. Some of the most memorable IMO.
THE BIG BOYS:
Shazna (1993~2000/2006~2009, core guys of the pre-oshare movement. From what I saw, as soon as these guys became poppy and super colorful and whatnot, tons of bands followed, from L'luvia to super underground guys like the guys in Die 'As Ray.)
^^^ The song that changed EVERYTHING.
L'luvia (1994~2000, one of the main guys who followed Shazna's lead. In a lot of ways, especially from the outside, L'luvia seem identical to Shazna. Albeit a bit more alternative driven, their more well known stuff is sugary enough to be considered Shazna's little bros.)
Cascade (1993~2002/2009~Present, these guys started with a thuper-spooky goth look, before doing a dorky Devo-like look, and then turning into pre-oshare sweethearts by 1996. Not as significant in terms of bright colorfulness as L'luvia and DEFINITELY not the ground-shatterers that Shazna were, their bright sound and overall bubbly cutesy image deserves a spot on the pre-oshare big boys list.)
Sophia (1994~2013, okay, this may be a stretch, but hear me out. Now they weren't at ALL similar to oshare stuff post-1997, BUT before that year, their bright poppy sound was somewhat revolutionary in visual kei. Keep in mind that these guys all came from brooding and gothy visual backgrounds, so doing something like Sophia paid off, since not only were there very few genuinely poppy visual bands in the mid 90's, but VERY few got major attention. Hell, even Glay weren't totally poppy till 1996 with the releases of "BEAT OUT!" and "BELOVED". So essentially, one could make the argument that Sophia's ridiculously upbeat and energetic initial sound laid the perfect foundation for oshare kei to blossom several years later.)
THE UNDERGROUND GUYS:
16,Piano (1996~2003, these fellas were, like Sophia, one of the first all-pop bands to really pop out of the visual underground during the mid 90's. Seriously. They came out of the gate with an obnoxiously in-your-face happy and colorful sound that you either loved or hated. So for that alone, 16,Piano deserves a high-up spot on pioneers of pre-oshare IMHO.)
Neo Sonic Arts (1995~2000, now I really dig these guys, but they really did play follow-the-leader. Originally a goth post-punk-like band, they made a huge change in sound when Shazna were breaking through and Sophia were entering the top 20. Coincidence? Nah, I don't think so. But their nauseatingly sweet sound and earworm-like choruses were pretty strong, and they did hop on the bandwagon pretty early on, so they're definitely significant enough during the time of pre-oshare's development.
Die 'As Ray/Dias Ray (1995~1997, as mentioned earlier, these guys were doing the glitzy color thing before it was cool. And as a result, they had some decent popularity, appearing in some of the iconic visual magazines of the decade. Like many bands of the period, however, their recognition entirely disappeared over time, but with their knack of combining flashy colors and remarkably catchy pop ditties, Die 'As Ray/Dias Ray are more than worthy of being considered pioneers in the development stage of early oshare kei.
Jun Bride (1991~1997, one of the more mysterious bands in the early oshare part of things, Jun Bride's early history is pretty much unknown for the most part. Although, they are notable for, like Sophia, being one of the first oshare prototypes to go major when they signed to Warner Music in the summer of 1996. Not too shabby... even if their sales were pretty poopy over all.
Little Mermaid (1997~2000, one of the latter bands in the pre-oshare timeline, Little Mermaid were definitely a go-lucky group of guys. One that totally faded with time, these guys don't really get the credit they deserve, and are probably one of the more underground pre-oshare acts. But I believe they had brief ties to some major label in 1998 for a few months, so that's pretty cool. Another point for the pre-oshare team!)
(Melody, 1996~2002/2006~Present, becoming quasi-popular at around the same time Little Mermaid did, Melody had something they didn't: a longer term major label deal. It's not all that brag-worthy though since finding major label stuff from Melody can be a major pain-in-the-ass, ESPECIALLY their only album. But because they are one of the more noteworthy bands in the small pre-oshare scene, especially on MH, I figured they deserved a shoutout too.)
....Yeah, pre-oshare is pretty awesome XDD.