Groups that have gained or lost popularity

[anadentone 478]

Often times, I get my news about bands new releases and activities from a certain Asian news site and from the massive post from fangirls on tumblr. This is mainly done with these bigger, more popular bands like The Gazette and Dir En Grey.  One thing I find lacking in these convos is the fact that, popular or not, no one really gives a review of the band's music. No one says "Oh this album is as bad at the last one." or " They don't sound like they use to anymore." One thing I never hear about is how popular the band is now. There's not mention of "This old band is loosing popularity due to the fail of their last album" or even " They're calling this group the next ___".

 

so with that in mind, speaking in terms of sales and overall popularity in Japan, what bands have gain or lost their popularity ?

 

Bands like Dog in the PWO, Daizystripper, Arlequin, D.I.D. , kameleo, etc.

[blackdoll 907]

Lycaon was before they went underground

[Tokage 5930]

Most visual bands aren't exactly ''popular'' in the common sense of the word, are they?

I guess I'd reckon Kiryu has gotten relatively popular over the recent years, though?

[anadentone 478]

Most visual bands aren't exactly ''popular'' in the common sense of the word, are they?

I guess I'd reckon Kiryu has gotten relatively popular over the recent years, though?

pop is huge in japan D;

i guess i should say "known" instead of popular XD 

I've seen alot of bands I've never heard of fill larger areas (not like stadium size but a 1000 or so ppl)

I remember hearing about Kiryu and Dog and thought they were new (circa 2013) and was shocked to find they had been around years before.

[vanivani 558]

Ya, when it comes to visual kei what's "popular" has a different meaning. There are some visual kei bands that have broken into the mainstream in Japan, but from what I've seen and heard it's a rather difficult thing to do. Visual kei seems pretty underground to me.

 

And I feel like sometimes CD sales can be misleading, because you have fans who will buy 10 copies of one CD or buy all the multiple versions, etc. So it doesn't necessarily mean they have a big fan base.

[Original Saku 1593]

yeah I was always under the impression that VK isn't terribly popular inside of Japan other than a few select bands. atleast not popular like VK was in the 90's and early 00's

[anadentone 478]

hmm I wonder if any bands lost popularity with non-Japanese people O.o

[anieresus 270]

Kiryu got pretty popular I guess. Their song Kyuubi was playing at Don Quijote a pretty famous store in Shibuya along with other J-pop songs. 

[emmny 4139]

im not in japan so i wouldnt know but based off online presence and band activities (venues, tours etc) i'd say pentagon, arlequin, mejibray, kiryu and royz are the indies bands to beat at the moment in the visual sphere

outside, i really wouldn't know, but as saku said, vk isn't as prevalent outside of the subculture compared to say the malice mizer days

[anakuro 847]

ok well, if we're talking about popular in general, like most people have said already, very few VK bands are popular in Japan.

But if we're talking about within VK in general then I think it's easier to answer the question.

 

dir isn't VK but are still incredibly popular. 

 

From what I can tell Arlequin is losing popularity while Pentagon is gaining it (& these two things are related).

 

btw, D.I.D is *not* popular in any sense of the word. To be honest, D.I.D is only popular on MH. Their small fanbase is shrinking and even D.I.D's long term fans are finding it hard to follow them lately from what I can tell. 

 

 

But tbh my knowledge is not within the "popular within VK" spectrum. 
The bands I go see are much smaller. But I do comment quite regularly on how well bands are doing..it just doesn't matter because the bands I like are so small lol

 

The first time I saw Oneness I knew they would be breaking up within a year (I was right) because of how poor the turnout was. Apparently they'd lost a lot of fans. It didn't get any better and they had to keep down grading live houses for their onemans. And their final oneman tour was like a move of desperation with pair tickets--two people could go in on one ticket.

 

Shounenki is losing fans too. It's pretty evident looking at their onemans live house choices. They went up to O-WEST/WWW size (500~600) and their next one is at Takadanobaba AREA (350? 400?). 

 

Souiumono lost *a lot* of fans. They did OK at BLAZE (900 cap) but then when they tried to do duo (1000) it was less than half full. I've been predicting they'd break up for like a year.......... :/ They're breaking up in April.

 

XAA-XAA has gained an insane amount of popularity considering their first live was a oneman at a place where the cap was like 150 and it was like *maybe* half full and a year later they sold out Osaka MUSE (350? cap). They're probably the most popular indies band in their general level in Osaka rn. (I mean like they're of course not as big as FEST lol). A lot of fans of other bands are bitter about it. Shounenki gya are especially bitter.

[Ikna 1225]

Concerning single musicians in the scene, I think Mana had a very deep fall in popularity. Once being the member of one of the most popular and influential 90s Visual kei groups, Malice Mizer, to a solo artist now band leader of a rather fringe popular band, Moi dix Mois. Even these guys used to be much more popular at the beginning of their career (though I think MdM biggest fanbase was not japanese, but mostly French, German and Austrian foreigners). Gackt on the other hand managed to become really popular and famous, but had to leave VK for that (no idea if at the moment anyone still cares for him. He's old hat too)

[anadentone 478]

ok well, if we're talking about popular in general, like most people have said already, very few VK bands are popular in Japan.

But if we're talking about within VK in general then I think it's easier to answer the question.

 

dir isn't VK but are still incredibly popular. 

 

From what I can tell Arlequin is losing popularity while Pentagon is gaining it (& these two things are related).

 

btw, D.I.D is *not* popular in any sense of the word. To be honest, D.I.D is only popular on MH. Their small fanbase is shrinking and even D.I.D's long term fans are finding it hard to follow them lately from what I can tell. 

 

 

But tbh my knowledge is not within the "popular within VK" spectrum. 

The bands I go see are much smaller. But I do comment quite regularly on how well bands are doing..it just doesn't matter because the bands I like are so small lol

 

The first time I saw Oneness I knew they would be breaking up within a year (I was right) because of how poor the turnout was. Apparently they'd lost a lot of fans. It didn't get any better and they had to keep down grading live houses for their onemans. And their final oneman tour was like a move of desperation with pair tickets--two people could go in on one ticket.

 

Shounenki is losing fans too. It's pretty evident looking at their onemans live house choices. They went up to O-WEST/WWW size (500~600) and their next one is at Takadanobaba AREA (350? 400?). 

 

Souiumono lost *a lot* of fans. They did OK at BLAZE (900 cap) but then when they tried to do duo (1000) it was less than half full. I've been predicting they'd break up for like a year.......... :/ They're breaking up in April.

 

XAA-XAA has gained an insane amount of popularity considering their first live was a oneman at a place where the cap was like 150 and it was like *maybe* half full and a year later they sold out Osaka MUSE (350? cap). They're probably the most popular indies band in their general level in Osaka rn. (I mean like they're of course not as big as FEST lol). A lot of fans of other bands are bitter about it. Shounenki gya are especially bitter.

Honestly with the Pentagon and arlequin deal- i just go them mixed up (not sure why o.o . Maybe its how some members look in the videos) Shounenki bang me song made me teehee but could never get into them. How do you pronounce xaa xaa ? Is it shah shah? zah zah? ha ha? cha cha? zak ka?

I love me some fest vainqueur *clings to kazi as my bae* 

as for the d.i.d thing- I'm thinking it's Akane's mental illness that had some effect on them loosing popularity .

 

I wonder if 4headmicro will become relatively popular now that Nimo is lead . You can't deny the cuteness!

[suji 8317]

I wonder if 4headmicro will become relatively popular now that Nimo is lead . You can't deny the cuteness!

I'm sorry but dude, the band is called THE MICRO HEAD 4NS.

[anadentone 478]

I'm sorry but dude, the band is called THE MICRO HEAD 4NS.

thanks XD I don't even know how to pronounce the 4ns bit.  They call themselves something shorter, but I forgot it.

[vanivani 558]

 

 How do you pronounce xaa xaa ?

 

 

 

You pronounce their name as "zaa zaa"

[Euthanasia 333]

L'Arc en Ciel are veeery popular in Japan. Even my teacher in Japan knew about them and was like "L'arc en Ciel!!" when I said I liked VK, lol.