Gyaru

Gyaru

ギャル(Gal) are a Japanese subculture that I have taken an unusual interest in. It all started with one thing, then another and the next thing I know, I’m looking at makeup tutorials.

Personal Discovery

My first experience with gyaru was through anime^A) and…the other one – how most Westerners encounter them. My reaction to them was mostly neutral though…as in, it didn’t really lead anywhere.

I thought it was weird, but kinda interesting. But I’d gradually learn more…not through anime, but through Wikipedia of all things.

Since I didn’t know what gyaru were, I looked it up. From there, I found out wow, there’s more to this than expected…but then I found Gyaru-Moji, and that’s where my brain went wait, what.

But then I got into ParaPara. I think it started through Eurobeat. I kept looking for more and then started hearing weird references. Then I got recommended ParaPara…and that’s where it all went downhill.

From ParaPara, I started looking into the rest of the subculture and, well, here we are today. Actually, ParaPara might be the reason I’m interested in gyaru. Gyaru went from just some fiction trope and museum artifact, to being something more concrete.

Gyaru Types & Subtypes

This section is not yet complete.

In this section I’ll list the different kinds of gyaru to the best of my ability. My information will mostly be derived from Galture and my own observations.

Those with a skull icon (🕱) are those which are extinct, as far as I can tell.

I’m going to try to organize it according to lineage, so you can roughly see how stuff evolved from one to the other. I’ll also be adding references a little later.

Proto-Gyaru 🕱
According to Galture, the earliest the term 『ギャル』 had been used in Japan to refer to vibrant and lively young women was the 1970s.^B)
Amlers 🕱
Amlers are girls who wanted to copy Namie Amuro. For those not in the know, she’s one of the biggest Japanese idols…ever. Namie Amuro is considered the 初代ギャルのカリスマ(Original Charisma Gal) and is probably responsible for starting the subculture.
This had apparently started around 1995.^C)
Amuro-san is from Okinawa, so she had tan skin and, as an idol, wore bold makeup and interesting fashion. So girls across Japan had started copying those aspects.
Amlers are either proto-gyaru or they were the first gyaru. Assuming there weren’t some earlier types of gyaru that I’m just not aware of.
Kogal 🕱^D)
コギャル(Kogals/Kogyaru) are where almost all modern gyaru types ultimately descend from.
Kogals were highschool girls who (probably) took their Amler fashion instincts with them to school. They were the rebellious ones, tanning their skin (!), shortening their skirts (scandalous!), wearing heavy makeup (shocking!), loose socks (how is this even allowed??). Though it’s apparently not known exactly where the term ‘Kogal’ comes from. Galture mentions that it was probably used by club staff to refer to the girls who weren’t allowed to come into the clubs. Meaning that the ‘Ko’ means something like ‘kid’ or ‘child’.
These types were so influential that the modern pop-culture image of gyaru appears to be frozen here. Well, there’s just the one issue: from what I can tell, they didn’t seem to dye their hair. So that came from later gyaru.
These types also probably invented Gyaru-Moji.
Whether they’re extinct or not is probably something that could be debated. I’d argue that outside of anime, the original Kogals are probably just extinct. Modern Kogals exist of course.
Galture also mentions (as a fun-fact) that there were 『マゴギャル』(Magogals). The term referred to gals who were younger than the Kogals (highschoolers)…so middle-school girls who were gyaru. The term ‘magogal’ probably literally means ‘grandchild gal’.
- Ganguro 🕱?
  Kogals who grew up grew up to become ガングロ. They lasted from 1998 to around 2000.
  The term ‘ganguro’ originates from the shortening of the Japanese “to darken ones face by tanning’.
  These gyaru are the ones who started dyeing their hair blond, silver. They wore clothing with a lot of bright colors and hibiscus patterns. They also attached rhinestones and tear stickers under their eyes. Hawaiian patterns and neon colors were mainstream.
  This may also be when purikura started becoming a thing?
  Basically all kurogyaru that follow descend in some form from the Ganguro.
  - Gonguro 🕱
    Ganguro who tanned their skin even darker.
    - Bachiguro 🕱
      Those who tanned their skin even darker.
  - Yamanba 🕱
    Yamanba are described by Galture as the more extreme version of the Ganguro. They had Gonguro skin, explosive hairstyles and painted the upper areas around their eyes white.
    - Manba 🕱
      According to Galture, the main difference between them and Yamanba was that they painted the entire area around their eyes white, rather than just the upper parts.
      - Serenba 🕱
        Part of the Manba counter-attack in 2004. Serenba were ‘Celebrity’ inspired, meaning they wore more high-class items, had a slightly calmer appearance and more ‘adult’ fashion.
      - Coconba 🕱
        Part of the Manba counter-attack in 2004. Coconba were manba who favored fashion from the brand COCOLULU.
      - Romanba 🕱
        Part of the Manba counter-attack in 2004. These were ‘lolita’/‘gyaru’ hybrids, possibly being the first gyaru to wear lolita fashion.
      - Banba 🕱
        Part of the Manba counter-attack in 2004. ‘Barbie’ manba liked to imitate barbie-esque aesthetics. That’s all that Galture says about them, not just me being lazy for the time-being.
  - Retro Gals 🕱
    From what I can gather, these were ganguro who wore more 60s-inspired fashion and were possibly more influenced by shop clerks than magazines.
    Galture notes that these were the forerunners of the later onee-style gals.
- Ayu-Style Shiro-Gyaru 🕱
  Gyaru who were greatly influenced by the Second Charisma Gal: Ayumi Hamasaki, after the year 2000.
  This is where something of a tectonic shift occurred among gyaru, as the split between Kuro and Shiro was cemented. Not only did this produce two distinct categories of gyaru, but it also allowed girls who…y’know, didn’t want to tan their skin, to join in the subculture.
  Ayu-Style Shiro-Gyaru wore clothing with leopard or camouflage patterns.^E) They also liked cropped tops, jeans and other things I’m too lazy to name right now. Decorating nails and their belongings (like phones) also started here.
  Galture also implies that revealing the belly button (so crop tops; midrif-baring) started with the Ayu-Style gyaru.
  Apparently the Ganguro were almost wiped out by the wave of shirogyaru.
  - Agejou 🕱?

Societal Observations

In this (work-in-progress) section, I’ll note a few of my observations about gyaru culture and the way it interacts with greater Japanese society. For now just a few small notes.

Mainstream Assimilation

I believe the general perception among Westerners (who are aware of gyaru and aware that it isn’t just an anime trope) is that gyaru have gone extinct. This is a perspective shared by some Japanese people as well.

This perception likely stems from the fact the mainstream image of a gyaru (a kogal; tan skin, blond hair, loose socks, long nails, etc.) is not how gyaru tend to look nowadays, resulting in the belief that there are less of them. Now, to be clear, there are fewer gyaru now than there were before, but the numbers are much higher than most people expect.

The main gyaru types nowadays are:^F)

Modern Kuro-Gyaru^1;²⁾^G;^H)
The modern incarnation of the Kuro-Gyaru. Tan skin yes, slightly bolder style than Shiro-Gyaru, but more reserved than the original Kuro-Gyaru. Women in their twenties. Primarily represented by the magazine Egg.
Modern Shiro-Gyaru³⁾
The modern Shiro-Gyaru. The dominant type. Onee-Gyaru and ‘Reiwa’ Gyaru are both different flavors of Shiro-Gyaru. They tend to have a more ‘reserved’ and ‘cleaner’ look, meaning white skin, more reserved makeup and fashion and so on.
‘Reiwa’ Gyaru¹⁾
Galture identified this. They are the most modern of the Gyaru and don’t have any particular unifying trait. There’s a greater emphasis on individuality and a lower emphasis on belonging to particular cliques. We can consider these the ‘chameleon’ Gyaru, because they’re the hardest to explicitly identify as such.
The term (as used by Galture) basically refers to all the modern gyaru collectively, though I’m using it in a slightly more narrow sense. It’s possible that I’ll later change this classification.
Onee-Gyaru⁴⁾
More ‘grown-up’ gyaru. Primarily women in the workforce, in their mid-late twenties or early thirties.

I’m getting these from the Galture website (linked below), which is a website run by a gyaru or former gyaru.^I) The above are simplifications which I may have to edit later.

Though the main point I’d like to get across is that gyaru have mostly been assimilated into the mainstream.^J) This requires a bit of elaboration though.

Many things that used to be associated exclusively with gyaru are now just things that young women and girls…do.

Gyaru makeup? The cleaner varieties are basically how most girls apply makeup now.
Decorating phones? Yup.
Fashion? A lot of gyaru and gyaru-adjacent fashion is basically mainstream now.^K;^L)
Language? I’m pretty sure a lot of mainstream youth slang originated with gyaru.^M)
Piercings? Multiple earrings and piercings are not uncommon.^N)

I could go on (and probably will in the future, when I decide to refine this section), but I think I’ve made the point.

I could also bring up things like general social warmth and friendliness. With Japanese girls nowadays come across as much friendlier than Japanese girls from a few decades ago. At least says me, someone with no experience talking to Japanese girls from a few decades ago. This could also be gyaru influence on the mainstream, since they could be considered the first to really push in this direction.

Gyaru kinda appear invisible because many girls in Japan nowadays are already gyaru-adjacent, making it hard to differentiate them from those who are full-on gyaru. What makes this harder is that all the current subcultures are more reserved in appearance than their forebears.

Longevity + Gyaru-Mama

One of the reasons I find gyaru so interesting is that they lasted for a long time. They started in the 80s (or maybe the 70s, I’ll have to check) and they’re still going. Sure, the subculture has evolved, but there’s still a continuous thread there.

That’s pretty much odd. Think to the early 2000s emo/punk girl archetype, which basically only existed during the 2000s and never any other time. That’s only like 10 years, if even that.

Then let’s consider the gyaru. If we put their start in the 80s and their ‘end’ the 2010s, then gyaru lasted 30 years. And they didn’t even end in the 2010s, since they’re still around…meaning that gyaru have been around continuously in some form for 40 years.

This is already quite unusual from a sociological perspective…but then…

Gyaru-Mama.

Gyaru-Mama are a distinct subculture of gyaru that started in the 2000s and which may also continue to today. Gyaru-Mama are Gyaru who became moms while remaining gyaru. Yes, it’s really that simple.

These are also incredibly unusual for a subculture to have. Think about the implications here. Most subcultures tend to die out because its members abandon it. But with gyaru, not only do you see the subculture lasting for longer than a single generation, but those older generations remain inside of it. And they then pass it on to their children.

Evidence that the ‘passing on’ happens can be seen in Japanese pop culture. It’s not uncommon for contemporary gyaru/fashionable girls to have mothers who were themselves fashionable/gyaru. Even if they’re not explicitly stated to be such, it’s often heavily implied. The key part here is that it isn’t really explained or focused on. The casualness with which this trope is often presented implies that it’s not considered abnormal in society, meaning it’s a common-enough occurrence that most people in Japan can recognize it and accept it without question.

This may also explain how gyaru can find itself accepted into the mainstream so absolutely. It’s already been around for 4-5 generations of gyaru to have been hopping around society.

But I think there’s a bit more to this too.

When you compare gyaru to other “rebellious feminine subcultures” something stands out immediately: gyaru don’t discourage long-term heterosexual relationships with one person. In fact, they seem to actively encourage such relationships.

Many feminist subcultural movements typically encourage remaining single, childless and/or to avoid having a single partner. Gyaru culture places heavy emphasis on loyalty and social warmth. The former approach guarantees your subculture dies with your generation, because you don’t have any children to pass it onto; the latter approach guarantees your subculture survives into the future, with the children you brought into this world.

I think this is why Gyaru-Mama can exist in the first place, plus how gyaru have survived for so long.^O)

Trivilinks

Galture (ギャルチャー)
- I found this by chance one day and I’ll be using it as my semi-primary source. I do, surprisingly, have some papers and books saved somewhere about Gyaru, but this seems relatively trustworthy.
- Something I’ll say is that I was planning to make this article earlier, relying on this…but, well, it was in Japanese-only. My Japanese is not good enough to read this stuff. However, after checking it recently, I found that…it’s now also available in English. Nice.
There is an English Fandom wiki on Gyaru, but I haven’t really considered looking at it too deeply…I’m just assuming it’s not reliable.^P)
The hibiscus is a gyaru symbol, which probably originated with the yamanba first, but then expanded to become a generic gyaru symbol. Super Gals! uses the hibiscus a lot, for example. I’m not sure if the association is still there, though.

^A) Specifically, I think that the first anime where I encountered a ‘gal’ was Hajimete no Gal, which also introduced me to the term. Though prior to that I encountered other gyaru-adjacent characters (like misaka). I don’t think any specific anime pushed me to learn more about them though.

^B) It’s here that I’m starting to wonder if it really is fair to say that gyaru started in ‘the late 80s’. Ah well, I’ll deal with that later.

^C) Though I’d personally still put the origin of Gyaru in the 80s, even if it only crystallized in 1995. Maybe. I’ll have to rethink some of the conclusions I came to.

^D) The original Kogals are extinct, probably.

^E) Leopard patterns are still heavily associated with gyaru today.

^F) These are mostly based on the makeup descriptions from Galture.

^G) Listed first for no particular reason.

^H) Galture also briefly mentions a third category of gyaru between Kuro and Shiro called ラテギャル(Latte Gal). These are described as girls with Gals with a healthy skin tone.

^I) I never asked if she still considers herself a gyaru or not.

^J) Alternatively that the mainstream was assimilated into gyaru culture. That idea might sound ridiculous, but I think there’s more evidence to suggest that than might be expected. A lot of other subcultures (like Lolita fashion, for example) ended up getting assimilated into Gyaru culture as well. One of the big gyaru subcultures for a time was ‘Ama-Gyaru’, which was basically gyaru makeup + lolita fashion.
That specific subculture is also, to my knowledge, the reason gyaru almost went extinct.
Basically, we shouldn’t put aside the idea that gyaru culture ended up taking control of greater Japanese society just because it’s a small subculture. It’s not impossible or unheard of for a tiny minority culture to dominate a larger majority culture.

^K) From experience, I’ve seen more girls wearing camo patterned clothing than expected. While I can’t be sure this is a sign of gyaru, I think it’s notable that Ayu-Style Gyaru (first/major mainstream Shiro-Gyaru) liked to wear cropped camo t-shirts.

^L) Also, the fashion is a little bolder than it was previously. Wearing tops that expose a sliver of midrif isn’t uncommon.

^M) I’m pretty sure やばい(yabai) originated with gyaru, though I’m not 100% sure.

^N) I state this based on what I’ve seen with my own eyes. Even girls who appear ‘clean’ outwardly tend to have earrings in more places than normal.

^O) If I really wanted to push this to its logical conclusion, I feel that gyaru might spell the end of the “Yamato Nadeshiko” archetype, plus that gyaru might…be where Japan’s future lies…? Yes! By not discouraging having children, gyaru will be responsible for saving the nation of Japan! 日本万歳！！！

^P) I know how that sounds, but my reasoning is that if it’s in English it probably isn’t written by people who have personal experience with Gyaru. Unlike Galture, which is written by a Japanese person.

¹⁾ ^{^ a,
b} Galture - Reiwa Gyaru

²⁾ ^{^ a} Galture - Kuro-Gyaru Makeup

³⁾ ^{^ a} Galture - Shiro-Gyaru Makeup

⁴⁾ ^{^ a} Galture – Onee-Gyaru Makeup