Let’s Discover Some Idols: Tokyo Psychopath

/ DAEMON

The worst and most lazy Western takes on Japanese idol typically involve the broad assertion that idols in Japan are almost universally young, well-behaved, virginal and entirely controlled by exploitative talent agencies. As we know, anything more than a superficial investigation into the genre will demonstrate that this is a cavalier and reductionist presumption. The sheer number and diversity of idol units across Japan guarantees that any gross generalization an outside observer can make will be directly contradicted by dozens of exceptions. Major label and independent idol units eschewing the image of youth, affable conformity and chastity are not a rare or recent phenomenon in the least. A few examples:  Bed-In has been celebrating sexual liberation and raunchy excess since 2012; Cent Chihiro Chittiii of BiSH has been promising fans that she won’t date more than two guys at once since 2015, the same year Non of DEEP GIRL started the normalization of idols with facial piercings; Negicco, Dempagumi.Inc and 1009-thank you- all have active members who are married and/or mothers; and the rebelliousness and chaotic energy of punk and metal have been embraced by 100s of idol units for over a decade now.

Still, there are a few lines that, until very recently, idol has been very tentative about crossing. Enter Tokyo Psychopath, who introduced their smoking, drinking, tattooed selves to the world last August, and seem intent on crossing them all.

Tokyo Psychopath bill themselves as fashion addicts with aspirations to be the “the most crazy punk group” (fans of BURST GIRL, shed a tear of remembrance).  Their debut single, “Welcome to Hell”, dropped last October with Japanese, Chinese and English language versions of the MV.

They followed this up with December’s drug, smoke, blood and booze-fueled, “Iine Parasite”.

Their latest single, “I’m a kuzuningen”, was released last week.

The A side of the single is a re-arrangement of the 2017 track from ReVision of Sence while the B-Side is a frenzied medley of all three of the above singles re-mixed by DJ Piston Nishizawa of J-WAVE radio.

When not dropping melodic or groove punk singles, the unit has been garnering attention in the world of Harajuku fashion, recently being profiled as part of a street style feature in Vogue Japan.

Let’s meet the members!

Kaosu Zoldyck

She was a MissID2020 finalist under the name of “ChaosKaos”. Her favorite movie is A Clockwork Orange and she is also an expert in embroidery. Her member color is light blue and her motif is a heart.

Hakua Gozen

Her member color is white and motif is a butterfly. She recently made a very moving statement on twitter publicly coming out as lesbian.

Jyorou Gumo

Her member color is crimson and motif is a spider. Her twitter feed is full of Quentin Tarantino references as well as her work as a model, and she has classified her Instagram account as a gas and chemical service.

Woni@gunsou

Their member color is neon green and their motif is a snake. Sometimes they want to be a princess and others, wear a man’s suit. They are a tobacco store according to their Instagram account and they also do a considerable amount of modeling.

Tokyo Psychopath are represented by LD&K Company who, in addition to music artists, manage a string of bars, cafes and live houses across Japan. Most notably to chika idol fans, they run Shibuya’s Chelsea Hotel and Star Lounge.

While idols with piercings have become fairly common and more and more idols have been sporting visible tattoos over the past couple of years, none have been as extensively inked as the members of Tokyo Psychopath. Coupled with the member’s enthusiastic pursuit of colorful and confrontational street fashion, this foursome with a focus on celebrating individuality is one of the most promising and intriguing new groups to emerge in recent years.