The official sofubi appreciation thread

Japanese Music
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(Because nothing rings softkei bells like clouds in blue skies!)

Sofubi, softkei, soft visual, whatever you may call it, was the most dominant form of visual kei from circa 1997 through 2001, and then came crashing down… hard. And it’s also the only form of visual kei to never really bounce back full force, although there are a handful of softkei bands that are still active today… okay, maybe less than a handful lol. This post though, as appropriately made by me robkun (aka the “robkei” guy on VK.gy), is a celebration of the subscene that burned so brightly, and died without basically a whimper. Whether you wish to discuss your fondness of the scene (hopefully there are a few enthusiasts out there lol), or discuss one of the only softkei guys out now… like… Idunno, Dear Loving, and probably another one or two lol, feel free! Here are some big ones to get the ball rolling.

SOPHIA:

The band that, in my opinion, officially kickstarted softkei. Even though it technically had roots in 1994, the members of SOPHIA’s bold move from going from gloomy gothy traditional VK to a bold new world of softkei. It obviously paid off tremendously, but it took some serious balls!

GLAY:

Even though they weren’t exactly trendstarters (at least officially, they had a softish visual look starting in 1995, but I don’t count their transition into being a soft band till '96), GLAY ended up being undoubtedly the posterboys for softkei, a trait they still hold today as they still have a very slight softkei image. But as GLAY would quickly eclipse VK by 1997, their look and sound… hell, everything, would be revolutionary in the softkei universe.

L’arc-en-Ciel:

Unlike GLAY, L’arc-en-Ciel have made it crystal fuckin clear that they want NOTHING to do with VK at all once they started moving dizzyingly high up the charts. But whether they admit it or not… well, L’arc had a very obvious softkei look up until around 2000 when they actually did more-or-less give it up. And their strong sound and “cool” image made them posterboys, along with GLAY, and whenever someone thinks about softkei in general, they usually think of them.

CASCADE:

Along with SOPHIA, CASCADE were one of the earliest kickstarters for softkei on a major label level. Their sound that blended electropop and pop punk wasn’t exactly a thing that caught on in softkei too much, but their early association with softkei is definitely worthy being mentioned.

D-SHADE:

If there was any band that benefited the most from the softkei boom of the late 90s, it was D-SHADE. Their time together in the sun didn’t last long, but the fact that practically all of their releases broke the Oricon top 20, even getting a gold certification with their “ENDLESS LOVE” single, is proof of how red hot this period was for VK.

SHAZNA:

(Yes, I know everyone knows “Melty Love”. But fuck that, here’s another hit of theirs instead lol.) The impact of SHAZNAmania was a phenomenon that is simply not feasible in VK now. Like… their popularity from 1997 through 1998, just those two years alone, was insaaaane. SHAZNA helped add a bit more of a feminine touch to softkei, which added a generous amount of magenta to a scene filled with suits and ties.

Janne Da Arc:

One of the last bands to emerge from the softkei boom, Janne Da Arc had a long, long run to the top, but it happened right around the peak of softkei. Come 2000, they were posterboys for the scene for the next generation, and eventually by 2004, they had the GLAY effect and became way bigger than softkei/VK in general.

e.mu:

A last-minute addition that I had to add was the one-hit-wonder softkei band e.mu, who had wayyyy more to offer than the single promoted above. I basically just love these guys and have to mention them whenever I can lol. But yeah, this song reached number 14 on the Oricon charts, and nothing else they released came close… which sucks. I love e.mu! lol.

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Great article!

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I’m more on the edgy gothic dark side of things usually, but I do love my soft boiz too! Shoutout to these chads who were also part of that short wave but maybe didn’t rise quite to the top:

edit: also how could I forget my latecomer kings??? 10/10 across the board:

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:two_hearts: time to click every video :two_hearts:

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A bit of a spotlight now on the indies bands!

WAIL:

One of the most dominant bands in the early 2000s softkei underground, WAIL established a forceful following for their hard hitting, emotional, proggy sound. This song in particular makes me feeeeel.

Vivid:

Another massive band in the early 2000s VK underground, before the late 2000s ViViD band came and pretty much erased this band from the consciousness of the VK world, Vivid were at the very top of the softkei underground in 2000 and 2001 in particular. Hard hitting vocals, brilliant musicianship, and poppy in the most sincere way… if that makes sense lol.

LAID:

Of course, when talking about early 2000s indies softkei, one would be sorely amiss if they didn’t bring up the big daddy of them all: LAID! Seriously, the way these guys dominated the first few years of the 2000s softkei world is insane.

RONDE:

Another big name in the softkei underworld was RONDE, a band who, unlike many of the names on here, were pretty consistently big in the scene from practically the get-go. At their best, they made scenic music which was quite beautiful in every way. Along with the aforementioned Vivid, these guys helped make the label Plug Records one of the hottest labels for softkei in the early 2000s.

couch>>case:

Speaking of the dominance of the Plug Records label, another band that were signed was couch>>case, who had a huge reign of popularity from 1999 through 2000, thanks in large part to being featured on the BreakOut series, which helped introduce a dozen of visual bands, mainly ones who were straight up local, to a nationwide audience. What made couch>>case so damn good, to me, was their somber, almost emo-esqued sound, which was a huge contrast to the much more light, upbeat sound of many of the other softkei bands at the time. One of the most layered and interesting bands of the scene, for sure.

E-QAL:

Another band that was introduced through the BreakOut series, E-QAL hailed from Hokkaido, an area that when they started in 1995, was a pretty dead spot for VK at the time, although it would also explode in VK activity just a few years later. They originally started out as a pretty good pop rock band, before adopting an even better, slicker dance-pop sound, which made them quite popular from 1997 through 1998. One of my personal favorites!

Rebirth:

A band that drew many comparisons to La’cryma Christi, especially for their earlier material, Rebirth were a band that was much more influenced by straight rock than anything really poppy. As such, their stuff is in the vein of proggy softkei bands like the aforementioned La’cryma, along with guys like Seilane and early stuff from CLOSE.

CHILD:

Breaking my own unofficial rule of featuring bands with videos, CHILD is an exception because… well, if you were there, there was plenty of exposure and video of them if you knew where to look, but nothing at all has surfaced of theirs as far as videos go since their 2003 split. Believe me, I tried… many times lol. In my opinion, the greatest indies softkei band of all time. The vocals, the cool guitars, the interesting drum licks, especially in this song attached… maaaan, these guys are too damn amazing lol.

Dear Loving:

As I’ve stated before, Dear Loving are indeed the last of a dying breed. Starting out as high schoolers way back in the early 90s, it would take them nearly a decade to reach the top, but they’ve been one of the biggest noteworthy names in indies softkei since around 2001, and practically the final big one left!

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Sofubi mentioned woo :partying_face: nothing of substance just wanted to bump it. I have a hard time identifying like subgenres or whatever, but as a kid I really wasn’t into vk because I didn’t like the popular bands and their trends, the bands that got a pass from me were the ones that made the vk fans I knew go “well that’s … maybe vk” with their limited info including sofubi (that’s what most media pop ie anison that were also visual bands fell into those days I suppose) Since I liked jpop from that 90s/early 00s era I think this stuff hits my nostalgia buttons as that’s what was pop. I’m happy when I get to re/discover it. This GLAY track was so good!

Sorta related but reading the interview with ex-Plastic Tree Takashi I thought this was very interesting:

At the time of the late 90s visual kei boom, there was a clear line drawn in the sand from the more popular visual kei bands and the standard bands. As far as visual kei audiences were concerned, our sound “wasn’t visual kei”, and as far as plain rock audiences were concerned, Plastic Tree “wore makeup and were definitely visual kei”, so we were kind of sent to our own underground world (lol)

I remember this thing in the early 2000s about some bands (including well Plastic Tree
but also L’arc and even Luna Sea etc) getting the “um, maybe vk anyways ew” treatment overseas but it’s wild to think something similar happened in Japan and I keep wondering how it was similar or different and how was that for sofubi bands. Not sure if I am making sense anyways recommendations only so this reply isn’t a total mess lol

CASCADE - Sexy Sexy is one song that I loved as a kid but had no clue they were a vk band lol. It was the ending theme for a TV anime. Their early stuff is just a bunch of misses to me (sorry fans) but starts getting good at Azayaka na Kiseki and then everything around Sexy Sexy era is super cool IMO like Strawberry Moon.

L’arc~en~Ciel (the tildes were the charm) - sometimes I forget I like Tierra! Obligatory Blurry Eyes rec but even more obligatory Kaze no Yukue rec (love it)

Shazna - no lie I thought Shazna sucked when I only knew MELTY LOVE MELTY LOVE but recently went on a listening spree for whatever reason (like Youtube auto playing stuff) and you know what, a lot of their stuff is fun? I must recommend Aqua always because DAISUKE ASAKURA :partying_face: but this entire album (oldies bests) kept me entertained.

GLAY - what made me care for GLAY was of all things kpop (my fav group had one Japanese member whose parents met at a GLAY concert apparently, and then they collabed with GLAY and covered some songs and uh yeah) lol. They covered the 97 ballad However so I like it. I like Yuuwaku (the OP pv) better though lol. I like Winter, Again too, but isn’t that just GLAY-kei? IDK

This topic made me wonder, are some like post 2000 bands still considered sofubi or is it wrong tagging? Lol kannivalism is tagged as such on vkgy but maybe that’s one way of saying “not quite oshare” or "erm, maybe vk? anyways … " . In fact browsing the tag on vkgy only made me more confused (ahh yes my favorite sofubi act TMRevolution) but I digress, maybe someone else can explain! (come to think of this, love how Shazna TMR and Kinya Kotani whos also listed as sofubi are related to DA … is sofubi just DA kei why I love it so)

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Yeah man, I personally view DA as a softkei phantom who wasn’t a VK dude per-se, but whose music happened to intersect heavily with softkei of the late 90s, whether it was through the KK and TMR projects, or through Iceman, which has drawn many, many comparisons to softkei, and has more or less been adopted as such by some. And while softkei sorta unofficially died around 2005, it had a few very rare exceptions. Other than Dear Loving, there was an attempt at a softkei revival in the late 2000s and early 2010s with bands like Clotho and Royal Lechery (both on the same label), as well as Rouzer, but sadly this went nowhere as softkei is just more or less a dead thing.

And strong yes on the love for 1999 SHAZNA. “Pure Hearts” is suuuuch an underrated album.

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Oh??? Today I learned!! I really did like DA and projects like Iceman as a kid (and was so mad for being like 10 years too young / late to the party lol) so it’s surprising, but also… not, I mean, it’s all things I’m drawn to so, lol.

Oh got it. So, weird tagging on vkgy. It’s really difficult to tell where one subgenre ends and another begins IMO. Appreciate the continuous effort to share and educate! Thanks!!

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tbh anything from La:face gets me going like.
You guys have no idea, La:face is the best sofubi band.
La:face fucks
La:face sexes

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Sophia mentioned! I found out about them in an incredibly retroactive way (I’m a fan of Aki from Sadie, who’s is working with Sophia’s drummer in a side project called Bluevine) , but never really got around to them until I watched the huge NHK Kohaku collab Mitsuru Matsuoka did with a bunch of other vkei stars, and personally felt like his vocals were one of the stronger ones there. I still need to go listen to their discography a little more closely, but I felt like they should have been as big as L’arc in some way. Thank you so much!

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Ohh most definitely, man. SOPHIA, pound for pound, is without a doubt my favorite major VK band ever lol

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ya this was real and a thign in US and on english language forums, and to this day i dont even try to figure out like u apparently did lmao

i dont care what everyone says,
and she said > blurry eyes :triumph:

gonna have to stop you right there, the various GLAY collabs are the specific glay songs i dislike. whenever they did that exile collab (google says 19 years ago x_x) i was like Ohhhh time to move on. im glad they do them, :sunglasses: they are Not For Me

南東風～PEACEFUL SESSION～ is the only one i can think of i love, it’s not complete to have this song without Yuki’s voice

(the video’s just ok, but my sister was playing double bass in school at the time so that was cool to see. at the time.)

edit:

forgot, ths song is so good to sing , with tears in ur eyes, ,

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c-can i get a link…

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Don’t have one

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It was REAL. Like, real-real. And the amount of coming to terms with loving the stuff they thought was crap and hating the stuff they thought were masterpieces that I had to do in life was no joke. But I digress.

Oh don’t get me wrong I was just mentioning Blurry Eyes like “obligatory mention” - it’s gotta be the Melty Love of early L’arc right? It’s not their best, maybe even a bit of an annoying one but is it catchy and fun. Thumbs up to And She Said. Crazy guitar solo.

Their collabs are weak but I would be lying if I said I cared to check them before that. And the prejudices that the vk community had were probably at least part of it like in some deep part of my brain I thought “oh, this band … not good” . Stupid prejudice. This band, good.

NGL this La:face band is sounding good from this alone. Thanks @robkun !

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Now, some focus on some sofubi bands that were major, but have since been forgotten.

ALL I NEED:

ALL I NEED were one of the biggest sofubi bands to emerge from the Yokohama area during the scene’s boom of the mid 90s, which is saying something since that was one of the hottest places for the scene. A very mature sound that was surprisingly tight and sound.

ILLUMINA:

ILLUMINA were the definition of slowburners in sofubi in the sense that they were not as red hot as the others in the scene, but their hypnotic sound has made them one of the most immortal bands of the time. This song in particular has dazzled me since I was a high schooler.

BLue-B:

A band that was quite literally pushed to the moon by one of the most profitable labels in Japanese music in general (Sony), BLue-B walked the tightrope perfectly between a sofubi band and a teen-pop idol band, and as such, they were featured in teen mags and visual kei magazines regularly. Despite the push from such a powerhouse as Sony, they weren’t exactly chart-toppers, but they did pretty good, with this single above being their most successful, reaching number 48 on the Oricon charts. But despite their idol image, their music had a large influence from British-styled noise pop, and… yeah, they were incredible lol.

BIIR:

Similarly to BLue-B, BIIR walked a very fine line between sofubi and idol pop, and in fact, one might be a little confused as to if these guys ever really qualified as being softkei, until you realize that they were active in the same area and events as guys like couch>>case and KRUITZ. Unlike those guys though, BIIR (pronounced "b-2-r, not beer, surprisingly enough) had a major label run that wasn’t really too fruitful, and they’ve since been long forgotten, which sucks because they had a great pop feel that oozed new millennium nostalgia lol.

DEVELOP=FRAME:

The major label run of DEVELOP=FRAME is one of the most cursed major label runs, if not THE most cursed band from the soft world to become major. Making impressive waves throughout 1997, they would go major in 1998 with the label Unlimited Records, which was home to megagiants like e.mu, Aucifer and, most significantly, GLAY. Their singles were featured on the anime Zoids, which was aired around the world, but even with that kind of exposure, they sold very poorly, and stuff of theirs isn’t very easy to find a physical copy of. They had an album planned on Unlimited, but their sales were so poor, it was abruptly cancelled and, to this day, has never been released. Yeah… that sort of cursed lol. But they’re one of my all time favs and had a gripping, driving electropop-rock sound, with amazing and strong vocals to top it off. A band that deserved superstardom, but sadly couldn’t have possibly failed harder.

epidemic:

Speaking of electropop sofubi, epidemic was a band that achieved major status not too long after DEVELOP=FRAME, and had very, very slightly better success. A sound that was distinct and had strong influences from an underrated electronica subgenre called futurepop.

sheen:

sheen was a band that did quite a lot during their day. For one, they started out as a rave band that played a oneman at the Nippon Seinenkan in their indies days, and then, as soon as they became major, adopted a Britpop sound, and did both styles amazingly. As a matter of fact, they were quite popular during their first official year of major activity, as in that year of 1995, they released three singles and three mini-albums, a hell of a lot of material for a new band. For these reasons, you would think that they’d be hailed and well-discussed today, but, you’d be mistaken. In 1996, presumably due to oversaturation, their sales took a massive dip, and upon their disbandment in 1998, they were practically instantly forgotten, remarkable for a band that still demanded a decent amount of popularity even after taking a blow in sales. But like I said, either doing rave or Britpop-tinged alt/pop rock (such as the track above, and probably my all-time favorite track of theirs), sheen was able to do it all not just well… but goddamn well.

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I will add to all the bands you mentioned : Λucifer, Fanatic Crisis and to a lesser extent La’cryma Christi who ultimately explored many styles.

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hooray there’s more videos to click on :relieved:

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Λucifer counts as sofubi? OH let me just add one more rec then (it’s their Melty Love but I love it!! ) :

("weeaboo music ,. " shh. do’nt care)

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