Oshare of the 2000's

[cvltic 1482]

here's some unmentioned osare bands i remember from the depths of my teens. idk if anyone else here was a member of the oshare_kei community on LJ but it was a race to the bottom to find the most underground osare bands at all times. it was hell.

Eimy

Spoiler

the singer for Eimy was a decora fashion icon tbh. jesus christ this is awful tho

 

Parfait

Spoiler

these guys were in Maximum the Hormone's Zetsubou Billy PV

P*Route

Spoiler

 

duraluMin

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Jack11

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Pawn

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Bagi-bogi

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Maruru

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Lilac Berry

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[nekkichi 6043]

12 hours ago, Lereku said:

I forget to mention ZORO they had solid stuff and released good songs when they were a  oshare kei band before they become electro duo band, the first mini album APOLLO is one of their best albums, catchy tracks and it's better than what they did before under Soroban

[Karma’s Hat 3107]

18 hours ago, plastic_rainbow said:

i think xtripx (a bit surprised that they haven't been mentioned yet) have an apparent baroque influence so they might be worth checking out. i recommend all their early stuff though before they turned more hip hop.

 

 

Being the late bloomer that I am I got familiar with them only last year, and I was never quite able to get over the first time of hearing this one ( the essential section is time stamped )

 

 

18 hours ago, plastic_rainbow said:

as for aicle. i don't think i can list any band similar to them cuz they're so unique. the only band that ever slightly made me think of them was when i first listened to dezert, which i think you already listen to them. it's an odd comparison i know as they're both complete opposites in appearance, but their level of craziness and quirkiness kinda gave me the same vibe.

 

 

I know what you mean with the Dezert reference. When the PV song for the second album was realised my first thought was that this sounds like a nu metal aicle lolol. Actually a more apt comparison would be that Dezert occasionally sounds like early Kagerou from their demos to the first album, where they would have more unhinged riffs than the average lot.

 

[Ikna 1225]

coming late to the party (and with no video or band to offer, because I never listened much to oshare). I skimmed through the thread and found some really good stuff and gems. So thanks for making this thread, it's a really nice comp of decent to awesome stuff (since there was indeed a shitpile of crap in the oshare "scene" back of the day). Made it really easy for me to compile a wishlist of material I want to add to my music collection, ha.

 

I have to admit that because of the influx of rainbow colored, nyappy as hell bands I never gave groups from this corner of VK music a try. Mainly because I was one of those edgy mallgoth tryhards who only liked grimdark, gloomy and depressive shit and Oshare to me was pretty much the antithesis of that. Secondly, I also partake in the fad of hating on the music because that's what all the popular kids in VK "fandom" would do. And when the overall majority found that all oshare to be the absolute dreck, then it must have been true *rolleyes*

 

Obviously there was some atrocious stuff, but apparently also some good bands with great music I simply overlooked at that time due to ignorance. Then there was the thing with the oshare fans, who I always perceived as ape shit crazy. Like, even more annoying and crazy than your average Gazette and Dir en grey fan already were (and are). Their behaviour, noteworty from the an-cafe crowd, was absolutely off-putting. 

 

The only exceptions for me however were bands like Aicle. or Dollis Mary. The former may look like an oshare band (still, their style was pretty unique even for oshare standards) and their music is simply amazing (shame emiru doesn't continue Aicle's craziness in Yeti, which I feel are rather boring in comparison). The latter I never really perceived as Oshare. Maybe because they also worked a lot with Metis Gretel i viewed them more as a lighter and softer Kote band.

 

But I guess Shazna could fit the bill, as they are often mentioned to be the main influence, if not forefathers of the oshare style. I have to say because of my inclination towards softer, more upbeat and happier music I never looked much into 90s soft vkei  either as of recently. Shaza was probably the first band of this kind I started to listened to and since then (along with the help of recommendations of others) I have eased myself a little more into it.

 

 

Timeless classic 💕

 

And I am quite interested into the formation of oshare in the late 90s and early 00s. Which band influenced it or were the innovators? How developed a stream of soft visual into it? 

Edited November 26, 2016 by Ikna
spelling

[Karma’s Hat 3107]

2 hours ago, Ikna said:

And I am quite interested into the formation of oshare in the late 90s and early 00s. Which band influenced it or were the innovators? How developed a stream of soft visual into it? 

 

This is something I hoped to get an answer for too. While everything post-baroque ( actually, oshare might as well be separated into pre and post brq eras lolol ) is easy to accredit to their influence, it's really that transformation from Eliphas Levi to Vinett that's puzzling me; the scene abandoning the old styles seemingly overnight after 2000. What bands specifically triggered the interest in the underground to shift towards what oshare was around very early 2000's.

 

I don't know jack shite about white kei and everything that went on circa 1995 1999 so there's massive gaps in my chronology. That doesn't mean that I can't ham handedly fish out possible precursors from where I think I can see them

 

I think Luna Sea is side by side with Kuroyume in who's had the greatest overall impact in the sound of the scene. That riff is ttl proto-oshare

 

Oh and Shazna's and they were mighty popular in their day weren't day? My favorite from them though is the demo

 

 

[helcchi 942]

There was also that fad of oshare kei bands having visual kei alter egos (other than panic channel). Ironically some of them made [arguably] better music than their regular stuff.

 

Ayabie → DEATHBIE

 

DaizyStripper → Frantic Emiry

 

Serial⇔NUMBER → Gothic†Number

 

ZUCK → waruZUCK

 

 

Edited November 28, 2016 by helcchi

[seikun 317]

Missalina Rei is being ingored even though the band clearly was a precursor and inspiration.

 

 

Edited December 1, 2016 by seikun

[apple-wa 10]

Wow, my oshare roots must be strong. I listened to about 90% of these bands listed back in the day. I was hoping Henzel would have been mentioned more. They represent early oshare kei to me. I've had Ame Yadori in heavy rotation for over a decade and I still love it as much as I did when I first heard it.

 

 

Edited December 1, 2016 by apple-wa

[robkun 4184]

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.

Edited December 8, 2016 by robkun

[anadentone 478]

first thing  I thought of was early  An Cafe and Sug from the scheat days. Also I miss Shinpei's headphones  Woulld Lolita 23q count?

[vanivani 558]

I remember all of these bands <3 I loved LoveCan the most.

What was there Japanese name written as? I want to buy their stuff if I can find it.

[Biopanda 2675]

1 hour ago, vanivani said:

I remember all of these bands <3 I loved LoveCan the most.

What was there Japanese name written as? I want to buy their stuff if I can find it.

ラブCan, if I'm remembering correctly.

[lichtlune 915]

I never knew how good some oshare kei could be. I wish I could get a hold of this music without ripping from youtube. x_x Guess I'll have to buy some cd's or something. 

[seikun 317]

Shazna and Missalina Rei, definitely the forefathers of Oshare and unintended visionaries.

 

 

[Karma’s Hat 3107]

Don't know how popular of an opinion this is, but I vastly prefer Sophia from Shazna and Gekka Hakurei* from Missalina Rei to the rest of their respective discografies. Missalina Rei was never bad, but the worst of Shazna is just tripe and I'm not a big fan of the hits either. 

 

*would rank somewhere high on my all time vk list

[Zalemu 236]

Huh. I never associated Missalina Rei with oshare aside from Tokimeki which was more of a joke song. Everything else by them is just basic visual kei (all of which I am a fan of, mind you. I love Arisu.) Never saw Shazna as oshare either but that's just my opinion.

 

The best 2000s oshare band for me is Charlotte; I found them in 2006 and have listened to them religiously. RIP Kazuno. I like Vinett, early An Cafe, Soroban/Zoro and PANIC☆ch too.

Edited June 10, 2017 by Zalemu

[seikun 317]

In my opinion, bands like Shazna and Missalina Rei most likely inspired the birth of Oshare in an unintended way. As far as I know, Shazna was very famous during the time they were around and Missalina Rei being a smaller band still managed to gained some notoriety, especially thanks to TO-KI-ME-KI.  Both vocals exploited a sort of childish appearance during their last period and their music also became more childish and playful, especially Missalina Rei in this respect.

 

They didn't create Oshare-Kei, but they inspired it to become a thing by providing key elements.

 

 

 

Edited June 10, 2017 by seikun

[vkboytotransgirl 45]

I love this thread. So many bands are mentioned that I know and love. Oshare kei indie bands from the 00s are def my all-time favs out of all vk era's. Here are some bands I think I haven't seen in earlier posts yet.

Anzel☆Stripper

weather

Tu[ism]

Three typical fast upbeat oshare kei songs.

Edited June 20, 2018 by vkboytotransgirl

[Paraph 826]

I used to watch this so many times on visunavi. Pooh-san!
 

Also, Vinett is love, Black Coffee by Parfait is a gem, and Pink Cherry by PANIC*ch is the bop you never thought you needed in your life.

 

Edited January 10, 2019 by Paraph