振り付け / Furitsuke Guide ~ オムカエの時が来ました。

This is for those who are interested in the Japanese VK scene, especially the phenomenon of furitsuke~
I'm kind of addicted to furitsuke and I just love doing it! I know that there are people who don't like it at all, but it's actually really fun and after some time you will start doing the movements automatically! *laugh*
This guide will contain explanations and descriptions of some VK terms and of all furitsuke terms that I know of and that I was really sure about what they mean.
I am not, however, a 100% pro at furitsuke, as I'm not living in Japan and going to lives every other day, but I think I'm allowed to say that I do know quite a bit about it (•ω•) Please treat me kindly~
Enjoy and always feel free to ask me if you want to know more! I hope this will be helpful or at least interesting to some.
(Note: I made this guide in 2011 and I've already posted it to several other places. Those won't be updated anymore though. Gifs are mine unless otherwise stated.)

★☆Some common VKei slang words☆★

バンギャ || BANGYA
BANGYARU→BANGYA→GYA
An abbreviation for BANDO GYARU (= Band girl). It is more or less the Japanese equivalent to "fangirl", but it is only used for fans of Visual kei bands! It depends on the person whether they want to refer to themselves as a bangya or not since it does have some negative connotations. The abbreviation "gya" is commonly used when referring to fans, also to oneself.

パンピ || panpi (pampi)
This is someone who has absolutely nothing to do with Visual kei. A "normal" person. It's quite derogatory, so I don't really like to use this word, although I sometimes catch myself using it in my mind... >_>

盤・盤土・盤度 || ban・ bando・bando
盤 ban = record, tray, shallow bowl.
土 do = soil, earth.
度 do = time (as in "the first time")
Slang term for "band". You will usually only see 盤 (ban) though.
Note: The kanji obviously don't make sense. Their reading just fits the sound of the words.

麺・麺婆 || men・menbaa
麺 men = noodles
婆 baa = old woman, hag
Slang term for "member". Usually you will only see 麺 (men) though.
Note: The kanji obviously don't make sense. Their reading just fit the sound of the word.
Specific example: Gaze-men (I've seen it written as ガゼ麺 on Japanese message boards, so it doesn't mean "men" as in the plural of "man", but "Gaze-member")

本命 || honmei
Means "favourite".

(大)本命盤 || (tai)honmei-ban
Your favourite band. With the 大 in front of honmei it's your "favourite favourite band".

(大)本命麺 || (tai)honmei-men
your favourite member. With the 大 in front of honmei it's your "favourite favourite member".
Example: ルキ本命です。 Ruki is my favourite.
Example2: れいた大本命です。Reita is my life. (Expressed in a drastic way *laugh*)

神盤 || kamiban
An artist who "died" (not necessarily literally though). A term used to describe bands who broke up.
It means: they are not active anymore, but they keep living in my heart.

アンコ || anko
An abbreviation for Ankooru (Encore). Encore is shouted when the first part of a live is over. However, it is usual for a band to appear on stage again after the fans shouted encore. Only at onemans though, or if you are the final band at an event.
It is usual at Japanese lives to shout incessantly until the band appears on stage again without breaks inbetween.

ワンマン・イベント・ツーマン・スリーマン || Oneman ・ Event ・ Twoman ・ Threeman
Various kinds of lives.
Oneman means that there is only one band playing.
An Event consists of at least 4 bands and can include more than 10 bands playing during the event.
Twoman and Threeman are lives where two or three bands are playing respectively.

最前 || saizen
This is the front row. As fans are allowed into the venue by order of their ticket numbers, chances are pretty small that you will get a saizen spot. Usually, it is also reserved for regulars, which means, fans that were fans from the start of the band and who probably miss only about 10% of all their favourite band's lives. If you really want to go saizen, make sure you're furi-save and ask first! Never just push your way to the front!
A few years ago I went to an event at Holiday Shinjuku, and there were maybe about 20-30 people there! When the band I wanted to see finally came on stage, maybe 10 or so people were standing in front of the stage to see them... as me and my friends weren't really sure how things work, we thought we'd better stand in the second row, but the regulars in front of us actually asked us to go saizen. You see, it really depends on the live and circumstances!

整番・整理番号 || seiban・seiri bango
The number on your ticket. Numbers are usually called in blocks. The lower your number, the earlier you get in the venue. Fanclub members usually have lower numbers than regularly obtained tickets. Sometimes, numbers will be "first come, first served", sometimes they'll be drawn by lottery.

トリ || tori
Means the headliner of an event.

上手・下手 || kamite ・shimote
kamite = right side of the stage (eg. Uruha)
shimote = left side of the stage (eg. Aoi)

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★☆Furitsuke specific terms☆★

振り付け || furitsuke (furi) / 細かい振り || komakai furi (Detailed furi)
Furitsuke in Visual kei are the handmovements / choreography that is performed by the fans during a live. This is very very typical for Japanese Visual kei lives. It is usually only done at Visual kei lives but it also depends on the (type of) band whether you do it or not. To generalize a bit, the more indie and oshare a band is, the more frequently and the more complicated the furi.
Some songs have very specific furi (real choreaographies, all done with the hands) and you really have to learn how to do it, otherwise you'll be lost and the furi part is over before you realize how the choreography works. Very often, the furi for new songs is introduced by the band members themselves during a live. They show how it works and the fans copy and use it right away.

However, there are lots of movements that you just know must be done in this or that part of a song, depending on the sound/rhythm of that part. Once you've got a feeling for the typical rhythms and their corresponding movements, you actually don't even really need a video in order to know what to do.
In order to learn furi, the easiest way is to just watch DVDs. I learned almost all Gazette or Golden Bomber furi I know from watching the DVDs and live clips. But pay attention: choreographies might change over time!! Try learning from new material! If a video is five years old already, it's usually useless to learn it.
There are also songs with no furi at all. In calmer songs when you think headbanging or something might be appropriate, it usually isn't. So, just don't do it. During ballads or ballad kind of songs you usually stand still and listen carefully. It's respectful and you show the artist that you care for what they want to convey with their ballad songs.

There are many people who also think that furi is kind of stupid and annoying. However, depending on the band, many Japanese fans are really really concerned about the furi. A recent example is the uproar that was caused by Ruki mentioning (this is just an assumption of the fans) the furi movement called ワイパー (Viper), which is done during guitar soli. He only mentioned that the people who "wave their arms" kind of have increased, and people immediately started worrying whether it be ok to continue doing Viper, or whether he was implying that he doesn't like it, etc. (remember that some bands prohibit certain furi at their lives).
I've also read several discussions of fans worrying about what the furi for a new song is, because they wanted to get it right. Or I've also read things like "I really want to do my best in order to do the furi prettily". Furi is a lot about looking pretty, and about elegant movements (especially tesensu, for example). So don't just wave with your arms, keep in mind that you want to help creating a beautiful picture for the band to see.
(By the way, to me it seems that it depends on whether it's acceptable at a Japanese live whether you take part in doing the furi or not. For example, it seems to be OK to not headbang, but you should do the rest, especially if you are more to the front. If you prefer to stand in the back anyways, you'll probably be fine not doing any furi or doing your own thing. Don't try to go saizen though, especially when you don't know how the furi for each song works.)

IMPORTANT: furi is NOT NOT NOT parapara! People use these two interchangeably way too often and it's wrong. Parapara is something COMPLETELY different. It's what gyarus do and it's kind of out of fashion from what I've heard. Furi is the thing you do at Visual kei lives, simple movements like headbanging or jumping even, movements that appear repeatedly during songs of any Visual kei band. Parapara are whole dance choreographies where you do use mainly your arms and hands, while doing the typical right-left movement with your legs. Look up videos from Hinoi Team, Angeleek, Gyaruru etc. That's parapara.

Back to furi. Furi movements have names! I didn't know that for a long time and just did the movements *laugh* But if you know how the movements are called it's also much easier to describe what you have to do during a song and also much easier to remember it! So let's see~

土下座ヘドバン || dogeza HEDOBAN (= kneeling down headbang)
You really kneel down on the floor and then headbang.
Example: During Gazette's Kantou dogeza kumiai, many fans kneel down and headbang on the floor.

逆ダイ || Gyaku-DAI (= reverse-dive)
That's when you raise your fist and then "grab the air in front of your eyes". You turn your hand inside out at the same time and also at the same time you throw your head and upper body downwards and pull your arm down.
The gif shows the typical gyaku-dai, where you raise your arm three times (one time for every beat) and on the fourth beat you do the gyaku-dai. There's also a version where you do te-ban before the gyaku-dai.
I've always been a little confused about the name of this movement, because... there's nothing "reversed" about it. Maybe this movement has undergone some transformation.

Gif by sakitoe on tumblr

背ダイ || sei-DAI (back dive)
This is a kinda mean furi and it's kinda rare I think? (experienced it only about once in 10 lives). Fans have to know when it occurs otherwise it just won't happen. When such a part comes on, the front row will hang over the fence like a wall (they call it "futon"), and people from the second row onwards will take a few steps back so that everyone who wants can jump into the front row. When doing this, you kinda turn your body around its own axis and hit the front row's backs with your back or side.

ヘドバン || HEDOBAN
An abbr. for headbanging. Sometimes the vocal shouts "atama! atama!" (atama = head) when a headbanging part in a song comes up.

拳・拳盤 || kobushi・kobushi-ban
Raising the fist (kobushi = fist, and ban comes from "hedoban" (headbang) again)
You just shake your fist back and forth to the rhythm, often accompanied by shouts of the fans. (like Oi! Oi! Oi!)
Also, if the vocal shouts "かかってこい！" (kagatte koi! = come on!) you move your fist forwards and shout "vuoi!!" or something like this *laugh*

咲き || saki (bloom)
Extending both hands above your head. It should probably look like your a flower that starts to bloom.
looks like this → ヽ(゜∀゜)ノ～♪
It means "Emabrace me!". It is usually done, for example, inbetween songs when a member says something to stir the fans up, or when the band members appear on stage or when the concert is over and they leave the stage
Saki is prohibited sometimes.

咲き声 || sakigoe (= blooming voice)
When you do saki and call the name of a member in a high pitched voice. Usually it's perceived as annoying, but the fans try to be cute and to be heard by the members this way. Saki and sakigoe might be banned by some bands because it's so annoying, so be careful when you use it. *laugh*

咲く || saku (to bloom)
The verb for saki.

メンコ || MENKO
abbr. for MEMBAA KOORU = member call
I include this here because usually saki is done when calling the member's name.

ソロ || Solo
This is done during a guitar or bass (sometimes also drums?) solo. If you do this, you turn into the direction of the member who is doing the solo and point towards them. Then you cross your arms and wriggle your fingers while doing this, though I have a feeling this is kinda outdated? I'm not sure though, I just haven't really seen it being done lately. It is done to cheer the guitarist/bassist on.

ワイパー || Viper (?)
Not too sure about the romanization of this term, but it would kind of fit. It's also done during soli, and much more frequent than the other solo furi, it seems. When yo do it, you just do saki (you can also just do saki during a solo) but you also move your arms from side to side. Something like this:
ヽ(^_^)ノノ(^_^)ヽヽ(^_^)ノノ(^_^)ヽ
If it's your favourite member doing the solo, you can also jump up and down to show that you really love him *laugh*.

手バン || te-BAN
Derived from "headbang" (tebang = handbang).
It's a very common movement. You move your hands alternately back and forth to the beat of the music. Except for in very very rare cases you can always do teban instead of headbanging, for example if you're too tired already to do headbanging or if you rather want to watch the band on stage www (btw, "w" is something like "lol". It's derived from "warau" = to laugh)

Something I like to call "pogo dance" www ... but it's probably just "mosh", in the Visual kei sense...
I don't know whether there's an official name for it, but I like to call it "pogo dance" (taken from Gazette's song "SxDxR"). You do te-ban (slightly adjusted though, you don't move your hands forwards and backwards like in the usual te-ban, but more like up and down) and jump around in the crowd. If everyone near you does it it's SO much fun! During a lot of lives in Japan, the fans usually take off their shoes or wear soft slippers, so no one hurts anyone while doing this, which is awesome.

手扇子 || tesensu (hand fan)
It's very difficult to describe. Usually done during very melodic parts of a song. You do wave-like movements above your head with your arms, turning them inside out, from side to side.

ちょのぜ || Chonoze (no translation)
A term I just learned recently. I don't know what a translation of this could be.
Anyway, you kind of make a cross in front of your head, but you move your right and left arm alternately, or you move both arms at the same time alternately to the left and to the right.
Like this:
(/・ω・)
(・ω・\)
or like this
(/・ω・)/
\(・ω・\)

折り畳み || oritatami (folding ... [eg. a chair or umbrella etc.])
You adjust to the rhythm of the song and basically do gyaku-dai, but without the hand up. It's just basically bending your upper body forwards kind of violently and then backwards again, matching the rhythm of the music. It's usually faster than saku-dai, too, and you do it repeatedly during a part of the song, as opposed to saku-dai where you usually do it only once in every four beats.

Gif by countless-error on tumblr

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Some random Gifs

Making a "Heart" with your fingers

Fans during Gazette's Akai one piece (song specific furi)

Ruki during Akai one pice (song specific furi)

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★---------------------------------------------★

Disbanded Bands

ALiBi
DREAM - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1dDAcnRBVI

Called≠Plan
Carnival King - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ip9lPmtk9QQ
StopTheTime - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xx6bkq80jr4
アナタノ青春わしづかみ - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5oyE10dDyIU

お遊戯ゎが魔々団×【PaRADEiS】
出会いは(・ ∀・) ノシから - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0w1EO42JHY

zip.er
曖昧me～ガチャガチャきゅ～と～ＯＰ - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IeYf_KMq4rA

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May 26, 2013