The diversity of Japan's idol industry has created several sub-category markets, each with a specific concept appealing to certain audiences. • : AV (adult video) idols generally refer to pornographic actresses and models, with the industry first emerging in the 1980s. • : Bandols are idol groups that play instruments and perform as bands. The term first emerged in the 2000s as a shortening of the phrase, , which was used to describe the marketing concept of the band
Zone. • : Gravure idols are models who pose in provocative swimsuit and lingerie photographs in magazines and photo books marketed towards men, similar to
pin-up models. Other notable swimsuit models were , , and
Fumie Hosokawa. Early examples of voice actors who had an idol-like presence were
Mobile Suit Gundam voice actors
Toshio Furukawa and
Toru Furuya in the 1970s, who gained a sizeable female following after forming their band, Slapstick. While character song
tie-ins were already common in the film industry by then, some voice actors also began making crossover television, stage, and concert appearances as their characters as well, leading them to be closely associated with one another. • : While Japan and South Korea agencies have created collaborative idol groups in the past, with
Route 0 in 2002, during the third
Korean wave in the mid-to-late 2010s, the term saw usage again to refer to collaborative idol groups promoting primarily in Japan, but with music, styling, marketing, and presentation produced in the
K-pop industry. The earliest example is
Iz*One in 2018, followed by
JO1 in 2019 and
NiziU in 2020. Johnny's idols also rarely get negative press such as scandals due to Kitagawa's influence on the media. • : Junior idols are singers and gravure models who generally are 15 years old and younger. Junior models first grew in popularity in 1995, when child magazine models became popular for their youthfulness and innocence, beginning with the elementary school girls featured in the covers of the magazine
Panja. In addition, in 1997, the magazine
Nicola was launched, featuring elementary and middle school girls as their core demographic. In the 2000s, "chidol" saw fewer usage, and it was eventually replaced by the term "junior idol" to legitimize them as part of the idol industry as well as removing the focus on their age. The emergence of local idols was traced back to the early 2000s with
Perfume and
Negicco. • : Net idols are
Internet celebrities who emerged with the accessibility of the Internet in the 1990s, using self-made websites and blogs to discuss their daily lives. Net idols currently conduct the majority of their activities through video streaming websites and social media beginning in the 2000s. Around March 2007,
dance covers (known as ) became popular on video-sharing websites such as
Niconico, which in turn led people into performing choreographed dances from anime series and idol groups. Notable creators of dance covers, known as , who later debuted as idols include from
Danceroid and
Dempagumi.inc,
Beckii Cruel, and
Keekihime. • : Virtual idols are digital avatars representing a fictional character or persona. The first fictional idol gaining mainstream crossover was
Lynn Minmay from
Macross in the 1980s. In 1997,
Kyoko Date was created as the first virtual idol. In 2007,
Crypton Future Media released
Hatsune Miku as its latest addition to the
Vocaloid software, who subsequently saw positive reception from amateur songwriters, with her character and music based on user-generated content. Virtual
online streamer Kizuna AI, who first appeared in 2016, led to a boom of
Virtual YouTubers who similarly conduct their activities through a digital avatar on
YouTube and other streaming websites. (pictured 2015) is an idol group, with music and performances influenced by the culture in Akihabara. Underground idols first emerged in the 1990s when idol groups with large numbers of members began appearing after the popularity of
Onyanko Club. An example Igari used to describe close relationships that underground idols have with their fans is that underground idols will hold handshake events and take
instant camera photos (known as ) with fans after every live performance. Music from idols are generally sold as
self-published CDs at
Comiket or promoted through
Niconico. Dempagumi.inc's music producer, Maiko Fukushima, describes the music from idols as distinct from anime songs, with most composers being "amateurs" and its organic music culture facing a state of the
Galapagos syndrome, as they had no direct creative input from J-pop or other music genres. However, Fukushima noted that songs from
R-18 games were also key components of music. In 2007,
Vocaloid greatly influenced the growth of music and idol culture.
AKB48, one of Japan's most recognized idol groups nationwide, originated from Akihabara, but it is not considered an group. •
Alternative idols: Alternative idols, also known as alt-idols or anti-idols, is a term coined by English-speaking communities to describe idol singers who have an image concept and music different from what is considered mainstream, such as having darker images and alternative rock. The alternative idol scene was pioneered by
Bis and
Seiko Oomori and made popular by Bis' successor
Bish. ==History==