(stylized as Λucifer) was a Japanese

visual kei is a movement among Japanese musicians that is characterized by the use of varying levels of make-up, elaborate hair styles and flamboyant costumes, often, but not always, coupled with androgynous aesthetics, similar to Western glam rock. Som ...

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

band, best known for contributing several of their songs to the popular

anime is hand-drawn and computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japanese, (a term derived from a shortening of ...

Kaikan Phrase is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Mayu Shinjo. The manga was published by Shogakukan in '' Shōjo Comic'' between 1997 and 2000, and collected in 18 bound volumes. It was adapted as a 44-episode anime television serie ...

. The band was formed in 1999, and disbanded in early 2003. They officially debuted on 15 September 1999 with their big hit single Datenshi BLUE, and became increasingly popular thereafter.

History

Lucifer was put together for the Kaikan Phrase anime to promote it. The anime was based on the a popular shōjo

manga Manga ( Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is use ...

Mayu Shinjo is a Japanese manga artist. She debuted in 1994 in Shogakukan's ''Shōjo Comic'' with "Anata no Iro ni Somaritai". She continued writing for Shogakukan until 2007, with her works appearing in both ''Shōjo Comic'' and their other magazine '' Che ...

. The band members of real life Lucifer changed their names to match with their anime/manga counterparts, except for the vocalist, who kept his name instead of changing it to Sakuya (the main character's name).http://www.jame-world.com/us/artists-biography-6--923-ucifer.html Several of Lucifer's songs were used in the anime, along with songs from other bands like

Glay Glay (stylized in all caps) is a Japanese rock band, formed in Hakodate, Hokkaido, Japan, in 1988. Glay primarily composes songs in the rock and pop genres, but they have also arranged songs using elements from a wide variety of genres, inclu ...

, Feel and

e.MU E.mu (sometimes e.MU or e.mu) was a Japanese rock group, mostly known because of their music for the ''Kaikan Phrase'' anime series. History Their first single "Love Around" appeared in 2000 as the ending theme of 35-43 ''Kaikan Phrase'' episode ...

. However, the band decided to go on even after the anime had ended, and continued to release more music afterwards. Then finally on 25 October 2002, over two and a half years after the anime had ended, they announced that they were breaking up. Following the announcement, they did their last tour entitled "Lucifer Last Live 2002-2003 Energy" from 16 December 2002 to 10 January 2003, which included 9 shows. After that, they appeared for the last time in a TV music show, PopJam, on 11 January and then did their very last show (which was also their first show done abroad) at the

Impact Arena Impact, Muang Thong Thani ( th, ศูนย์แสดงสินค้าและการประชุม อิมแพ็ค เมืองทองธานี) is a commercial complex consisting of an arena, convention centre and ...

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estimated populatio ...

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...

on 19 January. On the first album, the music was written by

Takuya Asanuma , better known mononymously as Takuya (stylized in all caps as TAKUYA), is a Japanese musician, singer, songwriter and record producer. He was formerly the second guitarist of the Judy and Mary. He currently works as a solo artist under the name T ...

(

Judy and Mary Judy and Mary (often stylized as JUDY AND MARY) was a Japanese rock band formed in 1991 in Japan by bassist Yoshihito Onda and vocalist Yuki, with drummer Kohta Igarashi and guitarist Taiji Fujimoto completing the lineup in 1992. Guitarist Takuy ...

), Chisato (

Penicillin Penicillins (P, PCN or PEN) are a group of β-lactam antibiotics originally obtained from ''Penicillium'' moulds, principally '' P. chrysogenum'' and '' P. rubens''. Most penicillins in clinical use are synthesised by P. chrysogenum using ...

) and Ippei and Taizo ( Feel) but after that, the members of the band started writing more. Beatrip featured one song from Atsuro and one from Santa, and the rest were by Takuya and Chisato, but by the third album, nearly all the music had been written by members of the band, save for one song by Takuya, and two of the songs Makoto did that were done as a collaboration with Masaki. The lyrics on the first two albums were all written by

Mori Yukinojo , better known by his stage name , is a Japanese lyricist, composer and poet who is affiliated with Amuse, Inc. He has written over 2,000 songs for numerous artists such as Kyosuke Himuro, Takuro Yoshida and Junichi Inagaki and theme songs f ...

(except for one song on Beatrip, which Makoto wrote). On the third album, only the lyrics to the song by Takuya were written by Mori and the rest were done by the band members.

After the break-up of the band

* Makoto has gone on a solo career (first using his given name, then used his full name). Towa and Santa also played on his first mini-album "Vibration". * Towa is in two bands called

Olive Sunday The olive, botanical name ''Olea europaea'', meaning 'European olive' in Latin, is a species of small tree or shrub in the family Oleaceae, found traditionally in the Mediterranean Basin. When in shrub form, it is known as ''Olea europaea'' 'M ...

and

Birth of Life Birth is the act or process of bearing or bringing forth offspring, also referred to in technical contexts as parturition. In mammals, the process is initiated by hormones which cause the muscular walls of the uterus to contract, expelling the f ...

and has done some solo work as well. He is also arranged many songs for J-pop idols

AKB48 AKB48 (pronounced ''A.K.B. Forty-Eight'') is a Japanese idol girl group named after the Akihabara (''Akiba'' for short) area in Tokyo, where the group's theater is located. AKB48's producer, Yasushi Akimoto, wanted to form a girl group with it ...

and other related groups. * Santa is with Towa in

. He is also a working actively as a session drummer and has played a few soundtracks. These include

Anna Tsuchiya is a Japanese singer, actress and semi-retired model. Since 2005, she is primarily known as a singer.Oricon pr ...

's first mini-album "

Taste My Beat ''Taste My Beat'', Anna Tsuchiya's first solo release as a mini album, was released after the disbanding of her former band Spin Aqua. Although there were no singles made from this mini-album, Taste My Skin was used as a radio single for promotion, ...

". Since 2007, He has been taking part in many of

Miliyah Kato (born June 22, 1988), better known by her stage name of is a Japanese pop and urban singer, songwriter, fashion designer, and author. In 2003, Kato started her career as a singer when she provided vocal to Reggae Disco Rockers' song "Cherry Oh ...

's live tours. * Yuki formed Dustar-3 with two ex-members of Sex Machineguns, Noisy and Himawari. He is also collaborating with Janne Da Arc's yasu on his solo project,

Acid Black Cherry Acid Black Cherry (abbreviated as ABC) is the solo project of the former lead vocalist of Janne Da Arc, Yasu. The group was formed after Janne Da Arc announced their indefinite hiatus. Information Acid Black Cherry is the solo project of Yasunor ...

.http://www.jame-world.com/us/artists-biography-692-acid-black-cherry.html In 2010, he joined Rayflower, a rock band started by Sophia's keyboardist Keichii Miyako. * Atsuro has been playing session guitar for

J-pop J-pop ( ja, ジェイポップ, ''jeipoppu''; often stylized as J-POP; an abbreviated form of "Japanese popular music"), natively also known simply as , is the name for a form of popular music that entered the musical mainstream of Japan in the ...

artists like meg rock,

Marika Marika is a feminine given name of Polish, Greek, and Japanese origin. It has its origin in the Hungarian and Greek nickname for Maria, or its Silesian diminutive "Maryjka". Marieke is the Dutch and Flemish equivalent. Marika is also a Fijian g ...

and Chieko Kawabe. He briefly joined a rock band Tokyo Anastasia. He also produces and arranges songs for an extraordinary number of

artists, including

Aya Hirano is a Japanese actress and singer associated with the voice acting agency Grick. Beginning in the entertainment industry as a child actor in television commercials, she appeared in her first Voice acting in Japan, voice acting role in the anime ...

Shoko Nakagawa is a Japanese media personality, actress, voice actress, illustrator, and singer. Also known by her nickname , she is best known as the presenter of '' Pokémon Sunday'', and as the performer of the opening theme from the anime '' Gurren Lagann ...

, and

Minori Chihara is a Japanese voice actress and former singer who has had roles in several anime series.Doi, Hitoshi"Chihara Minori" ''Seiyuu Database''. January 3, 2011. Retrieved January 10, 2011. She is well known for her voice role as Yuki Nagato in '' Th ...

. They were reunited in November 2009 and signed with new label T.N.B. Entertainment.

Members

* Makoto Koshinaka - vocals * Atsuro (Daisuke Kato) - guitar * Yuki (

Masahiko Yuki (stylized as Λucifer) was a Japanese visual kei rock band, best known for contributing several of their songs to the popular anime, Kaikan Phrase. The band was formed in 1999, and disbanded in early 2003. They officially debuted on 15 Sept ...

) - guitar * Towa ( Taguchi Tomonori) - bass * Santa ( Abe Toru) - drums

Discography

;Studio albums *''Limit Control'' (Dec 8 1999, No. 6

Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan and Western music. It started as, which was founded by Sōkō Koike in N ...

) *''Beatrip'' (Feb 21 2001, No. 10) *''Element of Love'' (Mar 13 2002, No. 17) ;Compilations *''The Best'' (Dec 5 2002, No. 15) ;Singles *"Datenshi Blue" (Sep 15 1999, No. 16) *"C no Binetsu" (Nov 3 1999, No. 8) *"Tokyo Illusion/Lucy" (Feb 16 2000 No. 11) *"Carnation Crime" (Jun 7 2000, No. 9) *"Junk City" (Aug 2 2000, No. 9) *"Tsubasa" (Nov 8 2000, No. 11) *"Hypersonic Soul" (Aug 1 2001, No. 16) *"Regret" (Feb 6 2002, No. 18) *"Realize" (Aug 7 2002, No. 15) ;DVDs *''Be-Trip Tour 2001'' (

live DVD A live CD (also live DVD, live disc, or live operating system) is a complete bootable computer installation including operating system which runs directly from a CD-ROM or similar storage device into a computer's memory, rather than loading f ...

, May 30, 2001, No. 1) *''Vision File Film: Escape'' ( PV compilation DVD, Jun 28 2000, No. 4) *''Vision File Film: Escape 2'' (PV compilation DVD, Nov 7 2001) *''Last Tour 2002-2003 Energy Tour Final at Tokyo Kokusai Forum'' (live DVD, Mar 26 2003) *''10th Anniversary Live Tour Rinne 2010.09.01 AKASAKA BLITZ'' (live DVD, Dec 25 2010)

References

External links

10th anniversary site

T.N.B. Entertainment
{{Authority control Japanese rock music groups Japanese hard rock musical groups Japanese alternative rock groups Visual kei musical groups Musical groups established in 1999 1999 establishments in Japan