ARTICLE
The Multiple Patterns of J-Rock: Insights on Crossdressing and Crossplay By Paula Vicol shizukaren.deviantart.com
Do you believe in magic? In fairytales, in stories of worlds where everything is possible, where beauty is all over and bad things don’t have even the slightest chance to ruin happiness? Such a world exists and I’m inviting you to travel there with me. But in order to get there, you’ll have to perform a small ritual: mix striking make-up with unusual hair styles, add elaborate costumes (often – though not always – combined with androgynous looks), and a music genre that stands out from mostly everything that’s out there. Embrace it, let it get to your heart and there you have it, you’ve instantly entered the world of Visual Kei. Looks are as important in Visual Kei as music itself, so let’s try and find out more inside information about what it’s like to be part of this world, by asking both musicians who left their mark upon the scene, and cosplayers who do a great job in becoming as great as their idols are. Crossdressing in Visual Kei is particularly fascinating; it couldn’t be considered anything else since it makes the “female” and “male” genders become faded, leaving more room for the universal, genderless beauty. Crossdressers are either females who dress as males, or males that dress as females. Crossdressing in Visual Kei is mostly the same as regular crossdressing in cosplay, the only difference being that Visual Kei artists do it as part of their job. In the Western part of the world, crossdressing is seen as something ranging from unusual to wrong, and most of the time crossdressing as a form of art falls victim to people’s ignorance. For many of those who interacted for the first time with Visual Kei it came as a shock to find out that “that cute girl” was actually a boy, but a connoisseur highly appreciates these people because it does take a lot of effort to be able to pull off the look flawlessly. Having to name some really convincing crossdressers from the Japanese Visual Kei history, then those would probably have to be Emiru (Lareine, Anubis), Kaya, Mana (Malice Mizer, Moi Dix Mois) and the list goes on, but in a quest to find out what they think of each other, I’ve asked one of the best, Versailles’s guitarist,
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Hizaki. He only had words of praise for them, complimenting them and confessing how much he admires all of these people.So, on stage we are used to see them wearing dresses or other feminine outfits, we know it’s part of the role they play, and we know that in everyday life they can either be so normal you could pass by without recognizing them, or you could find out that even off-stage they keep having a unique fashion style. That’s the case with Seremedy’s guitarist, Yohio, so I’ve decided to ask him if his style, both on-stage and off-stage ever caused him problems. He admitted it sometimes led to “problems”, but that he never encountered significant ones. “Some people try to start fights with you, but it’s easy to just walk away and ignore them. (laughs) That’s what I usually do in that kind of situation. I like to look like I do, and I won’t change my style to please other people around me. If they don’t like it, that’s their problem. I think everyone should be able to look however they want to.” I have to give Yohio credit here; yes, everyone should be able to look how they want, but it takes a lot of courage to dare defy the rather conservative world and to bravely face all the stares and pointing fingers one gets, and sadly even the harsh words. I guess in the male crossdresser’s case it takes a real man to wear a dress and have the right attitude for it, but how is life in a costume for cosplayers? In order to find that out, I’ve asked Hungarian cosplayer Yue Haruyama how a day of her life looks like when she is crossplaying, but also if people ever actually thought she was the real thing. She stated that the most important thing about such a day is that it’s fun, but she also mentioned the preparation she has to undergo on such a day, like waking up really early in the morning, put on make-up before leaving her home and managing with all sorts of problems that might appear during the day, like weather changes, lack of a locker room in some cases and so on. But before I know it the day is over and I’m really tired but happy, so I almost can’t wait for the next event. But she also told me about the rather funny yet sometimes awkward situations that she went through, like when people actually came up and asked for her autograph or when people followed her around during the event thinking she really was the person she was cosplaying as.