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Left to right: miko, Mally, Jyou, Naoto, and Omi
exist†trace are an all-female Visual Kei band formed in Tokyo in 2003. The band was initially a quartet until Mally joined the band in 2004. They started off playing Melodic Death Metal/Gothic Metal, but have softened a bit over the years, with more emphasis on the "melodic" part than the "death" part.
Members:
- Jyou - vocals
- miko - guitar, backup vocals
- Omi - guitar
- Naoto - bass
- Mally - drums
Discography:
- Annunciation -the heretic elegy- (EP, 2006)
- Demented Show (EP, 2007)
- Recreation eve (2008)
- VANGUARD -of the muses- (EP, 2009)
- Ambivalent Symphony (EP, 2009)
- TWIN GATE (2010)
- TRUE (EP, 2011)
- THE LAST DAYBREAK (EP, 2011)
- virgin (2012)
Exist†trace provides examples of the following tropes:
- All Lowercase Letters: the band itself and miko.
- Anime Hair: Mally and Omi.
- Bifauxnen: Omi and Mally, sometimes Jyou to a lesser extent. Naoto can look quite masculine as well, but not in a bifauxnen-type way.
- Careful with That Axe
- Deliberately Monochrome / Splash of Color: The "TRUE" video, which is entirely black-and-white...except for Jyou's hair.
- Delinquent Hair: Omi, Mally, and Naoto.
- Distaff Counterpart: To the traditional all-male Visual Kei lineup. Additionally, unlike other VK bands, where you have men who intentionally adopt feminine aesthetics, most of the members of exist†trace are women who intentionally adopt masculine aesthetics.
- Dramatic Shattering: Mally smashes a mirror in the "RESONANCE" video.
- Elegant Gothic Lolita: miko's fashions wander into this territory occasionally.
- Gratuitous English: Occasionally. Jyou's pronunciation isn't very good, unfortunately.
- Gratuitous French: "L'obscurité éternelle de l'aube" and "Ciel libre, chant de la terre" from TRUE.
- Hell-Bent for Leather: Mally and Jyou.
- Hot Chick in a Badass Suit: Omi and Mally.
- Lady Looks Like a Dude: Everyone except the very-feminine miko.
- Lighter and Softer: Let's just say that someone who sees exist†trace described as death metal and then listens to "GINGER" is going to be very, very confused.
- Lucky Charms Title
- Metal Scream: Jyou can pull this off as well as any man can. This is nearly ubiquitous in their earlier songs, but used relatively sparingly in their newer work.
- Miniscule Rocking: "-overture-" (1:27) from Ambivalent Symphony.
- Mohs Scale of Rock and Metal Hardness: Averages between 6 and 9, with their earlier songs more likely to be higher on the scale.
- Multicolored Hair: Naoto's black hair and purple dreads.
- Non-Appearing Title: Most of their songs.
- Pimped-Out Dress: As worn by miko.
- Rockers Smash Guitars: In the "RESONANCE" video, where Omi smashes her guitar onto a TV set.
- Smoking Is Cool: Mally's cigar in the "GINGER" video. Ironically, she doesn't smoke in real life, and actually finds it kind of gross.
- Something Completely Different: "GINGER", an extremely catchy jazz rock song.
- Soprano and Gravel: Jyou does this all by herself.
- Stage Names
- Wholesome Crossdresser: Depending on whether you consider women wearing suits to be crossdressing.
- You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Jyou has reddish-pink hair; Naoto used to have purple dreads/highlights and has silver hair now.