They don´t have anything to do with the Happy Boxes.
happy Boxes are Fukubukuro, a common way for japanese companies to get rid of stuff they still have sitting in their warehouse from during the year.

Whenever I see Wonho's name I think of BM from Kard's fanboying over him :D

I know that they're different things lol I was wondering about the timing as a Christmas/New Year release. Moving to a more standard release as older stock collected versus a dedicated seasonal item. The older Happy Boxes had stuff from a few previous years, so that's what made me wonder :) Did they ever run both at the same time?

I thought Happy Boxes were already the "thing" when I became a fan and I don't remember any Christmas merch. Kind of a missed opportunity to not do it this year when she does a concert on Dec 24th lol.

According to AHS Search the first Happy Box was 2008.
But Fukubukros in general are much older, they date back to the late Meji era according to Wikipedia.
They are usally given out on the 1st January, so they connect to new year, christmas isn´t a thing in japanaese culture,they just adapted it from the West.

Looking at Timmy's recent retweets, it wouldn't surprise me if that's the reason for him leaving. He's retweeting stuff that pretty much downplays the virus and frames it as a government conspiracy.

Tales Of fans ranked their favorite games and songs from the saga and both openings by Ayu (progress and Song 4 u) made it to the Top 10!

1.- “Karma” by Bump of Chicken (Tales of the Abyss)
2.- “Starry Heavens” by day after tomorrow (Tales of Symphonia)
3.- “Yume de Aru You ni” by DEEN (Tales of Destiny)
4.- “Kane wo Narashite” by Bonnie Pink (Tales of Vesperia)
5.- “Song 4 u” by Ayumi Hamasaki (Tales of Xillia 2)
6.- “Yume wa Owaranai ~Kobore Ochiru Toki no Shizuku~” by Yukari Yoshida/Yomi (Tales of Phantasia)
7.- “Soshite Boku ni Dekiru Koto” by day after tomorrow (Tales of Symphonia)
8.- “key to my heart” by Mai Kuraki (Tales of Destiny 2)
9.- “progress” by Ayumi Hamasaki (Tales of Xillia)
10.- “Mamoritai ~White Wishes~” by BoA (Tales of Graces)

Considering that there are over 20 Tales Of games (and openings) it's really nice to see both of her openings in the Top 10 :luv2

Full article: https://mynintendonews.com/2020/12/1...I06BZNLagQ7Dqg

Jesus.

Nice to see BoA in the top 10 and Ayu taking 2 spots!

oh lordy, this Qanon crap is really one of the worst things to happen to us as a society =\

Hey guys, I made this Ayu Video during my lockdown and I wanted to share it with you.

Love it, great job! :) Made me really nostalgic...

^the video isn't working for me!

Ugh, so disappointing. I liked you so much Timmy! :no might unfollow for this garbage.

I'm listening to Close to You right now.

Such a beautiful song... the lyrics are simple but full of love and peace. It's just what I needed right now.

Orchestra concert held to commemorate the 25th anniversary of "Tales of", also seems like there'll be a live CD released next march.

16:05 「progress」
21:05 「 Song 4 u」

Really love the arrangements for both songs, would love to hear Ayu singing with those :luv2

this is truly amazing work M.A.X.! compiling all those clips. :luv2

watching this, I couldn't help but raise all our awareness about #JUSTICEFORRETURNROAD. also, I love how this ends with Dreamed a Dream and a 'to be continued' title card. gives me goosebumps because I love that song so much.

Well done! Thank you so much

Thx you guys !!! I'm really happy. I made it with all my love.
Next video in few weeks...

Merry christmas by the way ^^

Only the ID is needed in the code!

What do you mean?

You only need the YT video ID code not the whole URL.

And it´s a rly nice video, but you sometimes have some strange performance choices xD

Ok ^^

Oh really, strange choices? Which ones? I'm really curious ^^

I mostly tried to do my best with performances I like the most with the less lipsync as possible. Also I hate AT 2007 & some files didn’t work with my software.

I was for example surprised you didn´t take the Mirrorcle World live from Asia Tour.

You’re right the asia tour 2008 is the most iconic but I’ll make a new video later with her most iconic live.

Oh I am looking forward to that <3

Yeah I've been seeing him RT stuff like that since a long time ago (even spring iirc), so I was also wondering if there might've been conflicts regarding ayu not doing concerts with audience when technically she was allowed to (I've heard that, for example, Koda Kumi held some) or something along those lines

That also affects ayu's public image

I think that there must be some bigger issues than different views on covid-19.

I believe we can't know that for sure.

Timmy's views are very strong and unfortunately he confirmed them.
This is a very big thing, it's not about different views anymore. It's about the actions that he takes in regards to this.

I wouldn't downplay this reason. We cannot know clearly what happened between them, but it takes a pandemic to see the real faces of some people and that can be reason enough to end a relationship.

This being said, I resigned myself to the idea that we will probably never know the reason and I will respect the fact that they do not wish to disclose more on the subject.

If he encourages reckless behaviour then I agree it's a big deal. I can't process how people can still think it's a conspiracy. It's sad that all things come to an end, even strong friendships.

I'm guessing that as performers working closely together they're all getting tested a lot? Maybe even being asked to quarantine? I know lots of places have similar rules.If he thinks it's not a big deal he might have refused to go along with rules put in place around rehearsals etc?

I guess we'll never know, it might even have nothing to do with his Corona conspiracies.

Especially with her having a newborn and also being pregnant, I could see this as legitimately being the reason.

Trawling Mercari JP and remembering when Ayu released a hairbrush lmao

https://buyee.jp/mercari/item/m21994876064

^I have that, its actually a decent brush. :laugh

Misako Uno from AAA covered SEASONS:

^ She has really nice voice. That is good cover.

Wow. She did a great job covering SEASONS.:)

Never knew they rebroadcasted Ayu's iconic "Haru yo, Koi" performance in full with HD quality!

https://bilibili.com/video/BV1pV411Z7BH

Is there any .ts file available?

EDIT: found it!
https://jpopsuki.eu/torrents.php?id=...rrentid=439816

Whoever bought the BEST LIVE BOX, how's Natsu no Trouble? Is it too different from the streamed broadcast?

Found this english version of a song for xx on YouTube covered by this guy called Ro. He did a great job "translating" the lyrics to english. I really felt it kept the essence of the japanese lyrics.

Not to sound super cheesy right now but I'm just having a full Ayu marathon from albums, music videos, concerts, tv lives, etc and she truly is one of a kind and I just feel so incredibly lucky to have discovered such an artist. Since 2004 I've been a fan and even though her recent works hasn't been my favourite, I will always admire her artistry and just who she is as a person. For the most part I don't care about celebrities AT ALL but Ayu? I truly and deeply respect. That's all :) Now lemme get back to my marathon lol

Thanks for posting that video pedronekoi. As you say the lyrics keep the spirit of the original and I like that he used his own arrangement too!

Nice find, pedronekoi! Glad you shared it :)

I'm also happily on a bit of a nostalgia trip this week. Just picked some random performances and revisited some of her late 2000 performances. Would have been phenomenal to go to some of those shows.

I can completely relate - there’s something about the universe she built over the years that is so appealing to me! Enjoy the marathon, I might try to have one soon, sounds like a great lockdown plan!

omg so happy to watch it in a better quality

Yes, thank you for this performance.
Did she won here ?

oh my gooooood I haven't seen this in YEARS! I used to have all those rips of the songs she used to sing on those shows.

Listening to "Walk" after a while... What a great song! I hope she put it on A BALLADS 2 selection.

Someone is selling a complete set of the 6 can badges that came with the CDL food items:


https://buyee.jp/mercari/item/m48121941555

Only 14,700 yen!

I allready got 4 + empty boxes for total 3100 yen, so a bit overpriced I guess xD

A Japanese vocal coach made an analysis about Ayu voice from a professional view.
Too bad my Japanese is not good enough to understand but it’s seems like a positive analysis and I believe he think that she is underestimated technically. From what I get he compare her past and present voices. I believe he don't really know well her discography because he think the only falsetto notes she is able to do are in Seasons.
If someone is able to summarize what he said I would be glad:)

Thanks for sharing it! I will watch it and try to mention what he says.
But I'm intrigued with his profession: Vocal Stylist??? What is this? lol

I want the boxes as well, so good for storage! :luv2

On paper this song is everything I hate about Ayu's ballads, but there is something about the lyrics and the whole thing that really really works for me. I was so glad to see it live, it made it even better!

It was not a competition show. It was a show on NHK called Idol on Stage that ran from the early through mid-90s where current idols sang covers of past idols, as well as performances of new idol songs. Speed performed quite a bit on this show, for example.

I'm not an expert at this but did Ayu lipsynch this performance?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cK5wiV23LW0


Or was it completely live?

300% live. There's no way to lipsync those pauses and breaths without looking a little bit fake. It's completely live.

Always loved that performance.

I know she sang Dearest a ton of times in the past, but I feel like it’s now become kind of ignored in her repertoire of ballads when she does concerts lol. I guess it’s a song I’ll never tire of so I wouldn’t mind if she sang it more lol.

I once shown a couple of Ayu's more recent live performances to one of my friends who's been having professional vocal training for years, and she said that while Ayu's voice is not something out of the ordinary, she DOES have a technique and it certainly sounds like it's coming from someone who knows a thing or two about singing. She isn't just clueless on stage. :yes

If she didn't have any technique, she wasn't able to sing the way she sings while being almost deaf. She had pretty low points since the beginning of her deafness, but she improved and readapted her singing many times (even readjusting her tone to be more suitable to her limitations). She's above the average of J-Pop singers (which was pretty low during her heyday, now we have some better vocalists on the scene), even she's not a remarkable technical singer.

I miss Tyson... does he have an ig or twitter where i can stalk him? ��

I just watched Jlo’s new video and man, I wish Ayu would do something just simple and beautiful like that. It’s just a bunch of glamor shots but it’s so pretty! Actually it reminded me of Jewel so I guess Ayu has done something like it before but... still lol.

The same girl from ISM (the hair salon Ayu often goes to and that she have collaborated in the past) who wrote a book that Ayu has written a quote has posted this picture from 3 years ago of Ayu with this girl's kids. In the caption she says she have met Ayu more than 10 years ago and that she really made a difference in her life.

https://i.imgur.com/aEOGgCf.jpg

https://www.instagram.com/p/CKLzhbfD6oN/

So, what do ya'll think of Many Classic Moments? I just listened to it for the first time in probably a couple years, and I never listened to it much before that. It's pretty strange sounding to me. On one hand, it's kind of dull but then I actually do find the build up to be pretty good.

And the lines she sings in English sound so good that it made me realize I could stand to hear MORE English from her, her voice just sounds really cool in English.

However, she has some serious squeaky voice going on in that song.

^ The moment I heard it I fell in love with it. It's one of my most played tracks of ayu at this point so I am super happy she performed it at the Trouble final ^^ So super catchy to me :banana1

It has nothing on the original globe verison production wise. The original is a masterpiece of trance production. Ayu's sounds like cheap EDM.

I'm just reading old threads and I'm getting so nostalgic lol Such as the announcement when Secret suddenly became a full length album instead a mini album and everyone was freaking out :laugh or whenever she had a new CM we would get excited about a new song! I really miss those days :cry

I was actually feeling the same watching older ayu CMs (panasonic especially) the other day. I remembered all the excitement I had and hype while watching some of them. It was also so interesting how some of the song previews weren't the final versions of the songs.

hi
here is my channel with ayu non-music videos. I'm trying to upload everything I have, started from the early dates. Not sure how long will it be interesting for me )

^Thank you so much for sharing!!

Thanks! I really enjoy watching the behind the scenes of photo shoots especially. I find it difficult to find clips of those on youtube. I'd love to see more of those if you happen to have them.

Thanks a lot! I really appreciate seeing all those pre-debut videos!

I wonder how long they stay, or is avex not so bad with interview stuff?

I think when it comes to non-music stuff it's usually up to the TV channel to delete stuff?

When I upload some files, they got banned immediately. I found out that cutting parts with music helps with that. So I believe they'll stay until someone report it

I saved all just in case xD
I need to sort all my talk files, but I am too lazy xD

Thank you aderianu! So interesting to see.

Am I the only one who thinks My way feat mflo is so underrated? She sounds incredibly good in that song. Wish we had more of that style. 2014 was a serve, vocally wise.

wow! so that was you! thank you so much!!!! :love I was 100% sure this channel was made by some Japanese fan :) how did you find all these old videos?!!

Probably because of only Japanese comments?) Didn't read them all, but seems mostly they talk about plastic surgery
That's from many years of collecting

thanks for sharing this link, that's a beautiful performance that is unfortunately cut short :D. I'm not a pro but I'm pretty sure that's not lip-sync; she was just at her peak vocal performance.

I love this piano (and orchestra in ayu-mi-x 4+) version of Dearest because her voice is smoother than the Original Mix (makes me like the song a lot better to be honest).

definitely. especially with her deteriorated hearing, it makes sense that she would seek professional help for techniques to safeguard this precious asset.

like, even before she went half-deaf, the very strength of her vocal was incredible. there is no way she could have belted out songs all shouty and screamy for two+ entire hours in her nationwide tours without having learnt some professional techniques.

that's a huge and great collection! I think I haven't seen most of them. and those videos of 1995 and earlier are just soooo rare!!

I'm personally so into young ayu, I really adore watching all these old talk segments!!

thank you so much for uploading these videos :heart I hope none of these videos won't be taken down by YouTube!

Hey guys, I was wondering if ayu has ever written a song for another artist? I know she did for Miccie and DREAM ON for Urata (she was featured on it tho) but I'm curious if she has ever written songs for other artists in all these years :rolleyes

I think the song she wrote for miccie was the only time she did that.

haha, I was wondering if this was someone from AHS.

Seriously underrated, I always add it to any ayu playlist I have. I love the vocals.

I love My way, but I've always been a m-flo an.
Hence I have to point out that it is My way feat. ayumi, not feat m-flo, since it's their song. ;P

no, she also did DREAM ON, as stated

Just something I wanted to share because some ppl complain because of a lack of scans for some Books, pamphlet, etc

This is how my A BOOK looks like after scanning (not to mention it´s a lot of work to scan over 200 pages)

^I hate when that happens! :( My Missunderstood pamphlet is in the same condition, fallen off the seams and pages have come loose. :(

That's why I didn't scan latest TA magazines, only made photos
I want to create a new thread and show all damaged items

Feel free to use my pics.
Yeah I also plan ti make photos of certain items, e.g. the 1997 calandar, it´s so rare, i don´t want to damage it while scanning.

^I'd love to see photos of that calendar! I totally get how people want scans but it's more important to keep the books etc in a good condition.

I agree, I know is not the same as an official Ayu book/photobook but still this is what my Miracle Passion manga looks like after I scanned it, I'm not complaining since this was a personal project that I really wanted to do for so long and bought it with the intention to scan it and translate it. I know not everyone can purchase every release and of course we like to share everything we can but it's really rude to get mad at someone for not scanning (and probably destroy) part of their collection, it's not that you don't want to share it but simply you don't want to damage something precious to you.

I would def contribute a $1 or whatever if a trusted member of AHS wanted to order a rare book/pamphlet just for the purpose of scanning. Maybe we can get an AHS treasury going

I asm currently trying to make good photos of the PoM2018 Photobook with my new photo-tent, but I lack of hands xD I will need my husband to help me xD

I'm afraid to lose my collection so I began to upload my ayu tv lives to baidu. It's slow on download but uploading files really fast and it's free. I have 2Tb there.

I've been complaining about Covid-era shipping costs at home and my husband was getting annoyed at me spending money "instead of saving money for Ayu's album in July".

Hoping this is willed into existence lmao

^ May the Jpop gods hear you x)

If there is an album in the works, what do you guys expect? An A ONE-style classic Ayu disc, a Party Queen/Colours experimental piece, or just something in the middle?

I'm all for a new album filled with safe, but return-to-roots, 'classic' ayu sound, indeed like A ONE, but I'm thinking more of Secret :luv2 a long shot, but one can dream!

Something experimenting with the more ethereal, dreamy sounds that were peppered through the RAINBOW album would be beautiful. Just something relaxing and healing would be my absolute ideal!

Omg, yes. No more aeternal / the way I am / ohia no ki type of arrangements please.

I'd love a full rock album.

Sometimes I want her to release a very relaxing album, very acoustic and chill, then I also want a pop album full of bangers lol

A vintage classic rock inspired would be awesome tho!