Again, not very easy to be confused as a steampunk band. I did find a visual kei band whose ‘look’ pulled from the Victorian era. However, just because their look pulled from the same era as steam punks, didn’t make it look much like steampunk.
Now, I’m not saying that steampunk is better than visual kei, what I’m saying is that even their looks typically have nothing in common! Even mana sama is much more Lolita than steampunk , and he pulls alot of influence from the victorian era.
Now, if a person where to go to Wikipedia and look up steam punk, the result would be : ‘steampunk is a sub-genre of science fiction, fantasy, alternate history, and speculative fiction that came into prominence during the 1980’s and early 1990’s. Steampunk involves a setting where steam power is still widely used- usually the Victorian era Britain - that incorporates elements of either science fiction or fantasy. Works of steampunk often feature anachronistic technology or futuristic innovations as Victorians may have envisioned them; based on a Victorian perspective on fashion, culture, architectural style, art, etc. this technology may include such fictional machines as those found in the works of H.G. Wells, and Jules Verne.’
The Wikipedia definition of visual kei is : ‘Visual Kei ( literally “visual style” ) is a movement among Japanese musicians, that is characterized by the use of make-up, elaborate hair styles and flamboyant costumes, often, but not always, coupled with androgynous aesthetics. Some sources state that visual kei refers to a music genre, or to a sun-genre of Japanese rock, with its own particular sound, related to glam rock, punk and metal. However other sources state that visual kei’s unique clothing, make-up, fashions, and participation in the related Sub-culture is equally as important as the sound of the music itself in the use of the term.’ For goodness sakes, even the “definitions” are completely different!(I put definitions in parenthesis because in steampunk there is no set definition. and maybe in visual kei there isn't either, idk.)
I have never met a steampunker who claims to be from an era other than the Victorian ( unless of course they've been using a time machine such as an Dihemispheric Chronaether Agitator), but I have met many visual kei people who hardly know anything about the Victorian era.
for goodness sakes, even the method in which each sub-culture was started is completely different!
I have never heard of a visual kei motorcycle! But look how awsome that steampunk motorcycle looks!
Another point I’ve got is, both visual kei and steampunk started around the same time. who says any one copied anyone else? it is possible that someone had the same thought at the same time! and besides, does it really matter if its been adapted and adopted into another sub-culture? in a sense, both steampunks and visual kei ( when they use Victorian influences) are both copying the Victorian age... so maybe we really shouldn't nit pick about this kind of thing. ( pssst ! thanks to those people who posted their pictures to google images so i could filch them for this post :P )
visual kei was started as a musical movement, meanwhile steampunk ( which was started around the same time) was started with books! Visual kei was started in a completely different way than steampunk was. Maybe it'd help those of you who don't know what steampunk typically looks like , if i showed you some pictures that you can decide for yourselves if it looks anything like visual kei.
