if ppl didnt know the single was limited, and judging from her previous singles especially the first week sales, this is very low sales then. Maybe her sales are still hurt from cherry girl/unmei just like b&d/pride and this but/ashio will be like startin/born to be....will sell a little bit more than the previous single.

It will be in the lower end in terms of sales post ~first things~. But it will probably debut a bit under the you/No Regret numbers (72k).

This makes me wonder if this year, other female artists whose been on a decline will do better in their own sales....like namie and utada...their sales increased for their singles.

I wonder how well ayus new single will do (please release one around may!)....she havent released one since bluebird.

yep, i think so too
plus with ayu's asia tour for the first time, it's gonna be the greatest year for ayu's overseas fans!!!
_____________________________

http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/3...gthesunhn9.jpg
set created by CREAtivITO
THE GREATEST TOUR
ayumi hamasaki ASIA TOUR 2007 A ~Tour of Secret~
NEXT STOP IS TAIWAN ON MARCH 24TH !!!!
LET'S SUPPORT AYU

It'd probably be hard to stay too high on a chart when in the next week, and after that there's:
EXILE
Mr. Children
Mika Nakashima
Ai Otsuka best album
and so on..


And she did not effing drop to no.12. That was on the worldwide sales chart.

HMV changes as time passes [it's in realtime] and for CDJapan she's on the "Upcoming albums" chart.

OMFGQ!!!!!!!
A BEST DROPPED ONE SPOT!
OMG!!11!!1111111!

it went from #1 to #2, how do i suppose to live now?!
i! mean! one! spot!


chart-run : #1-#2 -- THIS IS SUCH A FAILURE!

¬_¬'

Sorry that I mentioned position, but it's pretty obvious the overall sales declined greatly after this album was released. From 475,284 to 101,894, that's one HUGE drop in sales. Anybody who releases an album these next weeks will drop this BESt album to the bottom.
Some people here think we're talking about some common album. This is a best release, it has gotten a lot of promotion, it is expected to sell a lot better than that. You guys must be in serious denial to think this album is doing amazingly great. ayu was a lazy bum with this release, she should have resung or have some of the tracks rearranged and it should have been a double CD (WHITE + BLACK) instead. Also, this release is bland and unoriginal. I'm a hardcore ayu fan and I didn't feel excited to listening to this A BEST 2 at all. I was just like, ok all the same old songs I've overplayed, sounding exactly the same again? (I know, there's the remastering crap, but for real, what a huge difference!!!! :rolleyes) A BALLADS was definitely much better and interesting to listen to. It had a grand ballad like RAINBOW, which is one of her most memorable songs. Part of Me was a bogus track, cliche and forgettable with yet another recycled H/\L melody. I guess ayu's BEST covers do indeed show how her mood was when they decided she would have to release the compilation. This is why she looked so extremely bored in all the 4 covers, she's almost yawning in some of them.

About BUT/Aisho and BBL, maybe it has to do with how the cds were distributed? Maybe avex didn't put all albums/singles for sale all at once, I dunno, could be totally mistaken about it. Maybe people were not interested in those releases either.

Of course she's not gonna sell 4 million again, 2001 is over, so stop the overly-high expectations.

But well, I was hoping at least 2 million combined. It's kind of sad, but it's not a FAILURE NOR A FLOP. It's just doing not so well. Especially not a 'pathetic failure'

I'm a hardcore ayu fan and I didn't feel excited to listening to this A BEST 2 at all.
That's probably the reason why you are so "disappointed" with everything. Most, if not all hardcore/omg longtime Ayu fans are like picky about every little thing she does. D:

Ok maybe my words were too harsh, but I'm glad you admit this is not being a "OMG what succesful album, this is so incredible!!11ug1iu16111" and not making use of silly excuses to try to justify these "not so good" sales.

I really think you're making too much of a big deal out of the sales of this album.

Obviously people are buying the album, but not as many people as we might've liked. So what? Does that mean Ayu failed? Does that mean that those 1.1 million units of A BEST 2 spell "not so good sales?"

I really think that by being Ayu fans, we were continually spoiled by high sales, and now that she's got semi-above-average sales, people are freaking out about it saying that she's "doomed." Many artists would kill to sell 400k+ of their albums..

THEY DID WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! why did those bakas do that!!! omfg AVEX is full of retards A-BEST 2 alone didnt sell one million per copy but 60 some thousand. Avex is gonna do somthing to boost the sales but the album was so not a flop!

I thought Ai am best was already released. Ai would have been a baka desu if she didnt promote it but i think that album is gonna flop worst than any best album it still feels so soon you know and isnt making any sense that she released 4 singles already and no new album... what is wrong with AVEX this year?

LOL I think some of you guys are making a big deal about me not agreeing with the people who are saying these sales are great and making use of made up bogus excuses to justify something that isn't doing well. This release didn't feel like ayu has really any independence over her work at all. In the covers ayu looks bored like hell as if she is "WHATEVER", it just shows how much inspired she was with this. Basically, she just stood bored for the photoshoots, made a rushed song and that's it, leave the rest to avex. Knowing that she has a large fanbase, she should have put more efforts in this release.

And.. how do you know that?

I seriously think you're doing a little too much "assuming" and not enough "actually knowing." :|

She also looked very bored in the A BEST and Memorial address booklets.. does that mean there was no effort in their creation?

You seriously don't think ayu worked very HARD into releasing this album do you? And sorry if you can't tell I'm somewhat joking with the cover stuff. :laugh

dont say it is a flop
there is always ItUNe
im pretty sure she makes money out of that

I am sorry for all the intellegent people in here... But KUMI KODA's BOUNCE&LOVERS! is a limited album not suppose to sell over 350k so its not a flop at all the album wasnt even that serious to begin with and so is the "BUT" single. It was not on purpose to release it to hurt Ayu's sales!!

somehow had pmed that saying ABEST 2 flopped because of Kumi. I find it really incompentent that people blame this and that... i am still at a lost of words why people keep saying the album is doing bad.. because it definatly isnt.. people can sit here on this forum and cry and fuss but it aint doing anything.... If you feel so bad about it go out and promote the album yourself.... Ayu's prime is over but she is still doing well and on top... i dont hate ayu i will always be a fan because of her honest lyrics and she is not doing gimmicks anymore really she is just enjoying herself and making music..

with A BEST 2? :laugh You sure?


Geez, we have to walk in the same line in order to be respected here in AHS. any different opinion and people will hunt you like hell. Ok, this album is amazing! It was great that they divided the release into 2, it makes you choose whether you prefer a happier album or a darker album, and that's so amazing, it is much better than if they had compiled both CDs in one album only. ayu put so much effort, I'm sure she was sweatimg buckets, specially into making her most original and amazing piece of work ever, part of Me! That song is so amazing, totally alternative with a very original melody. In the PV she had to wear a very heavy dress, poor ayu, all for the sake of her fans. These sales are fantastic and doing extremely well! I'm so impressed and proud of her!

i agree with you!! Ayu didnt work hard on this album and yeah i kind of forget the 2 albums were a concept thing lol and i sense the sarcasm lol your post is screaming with it lol. I didnt buy it or BEST Bounce and Lovers why because both suck!! they suck grapefruits! if more songs were added new ones and if they chose better songs yeah i would have bought it!! but no i am a rebel and going to get A-BEST 2 HONG KONG VERSION!!! BAM! 14.95 cd/dvd version in DC! LOL and yeah i know about the hunting thing lol i came name three who probally are going to respond to this lol

Sorry, but HOW the fact that a BEST is limited can explain the low sales ??

If it can't sell the 2/3 of the stocks as a limited, how can it sell more as a non-limited ? O.o
Do you think that, NOW, if they change it to a non-limited BEST, it'll sell 10x more ?? I don't think so...
Do you think that the fact it's limited is a good reason for low sales ? That people will say "Oh, it's a limited I won't buy it" and "Oh, it's non-limited now, I'll surely buy it"??

I really don't get this point x___x
How would a LIMITED BEST sell more because it's just a BEST, and it haven't even reach the Limited stock ??

Please someone explain clearly because I REALLY don't get it v__v

01 ＨＯＭＥ Ｍｒ．Ｃｈｉｌｄｒｅｎ [37984]
02 ＹＥＳ 中島美嘉 [10028]
03 ＢＥＳＴ～ＢＯＵＮＣＥ　＆　ＬＯＶＥＲＳ～（期間限定生産盤） 倖田來未 [8882]
04 ＥＸＩＬＥ　ＥＶＯＬＵＴＩＯＮ ＥＸＩＬＥ
05 ぶっ生き返す マキシマム　ザ　ホルモン
06 Ａ　ＢＥＳＴ　２－ＷＨＩＴＥ－ 浜崎あゆみ
07 Ａ　ＢＥＳＴ　２－ＢＬＡＣＫ－ 浜崎あゆみ

Mike Nakashima's original album would have sell more than ＢＥＳＴ～ＢＯＵＮＣＥ　＆　ＬＯＶＥＲＳ～ =/
GO AYU GO GO!!!
Hope it won't be a huge drop for the 3rd week *-*

LOL ImpactBreaker. You compare this album with A BALLADS and how much worse A BEST 2 is, yet A BALLADS didn't do much better than these albums at all. It dropped like 400 000 in the second week.

I'm not comparing both sales wise evolution7931, but how much effort was put into each. I enjoyed that album a lot more than A BEST 2, but it was totally expected that the sales wouldn't be that good, because it had a bunch of recent released songs and it was a ballads compilation. But It's totally unquestionable that ayu put a lot more efforts into releasing A BALLADS than A BEST 2.

That's fine. If she tampered with too much stuff on this album, it might have irked people. Most popular artists don't mess around with the songs on their Greatest Hits albums. They keep them the way they always were so that the fans can enjoy a compilation of the songs they enjoyed over the years. That's the point of this album.

Mike Nakashima is an awesome singer!!:lech

HOPEMAN @ JPM brought up something. avex changed the album from being a 350k limited BEST to a 'production period limited' BEST. (i.e. The album will be only produced from date A to date B) that's why it says '期間限定生産盤' next to the album title. (Which along the lines means that) So really, we have no idea how much avex is really going to produce with this album.

I didn't know Koda was trying to go against all the men in one week...she should've pushed her date back further after realizing so many popular male groups were releasing around this time...esp if she wanted all 350k sold. Congrats to Ayu by the way, I've been checking the thread regularly (everyday actually) and I'm very happy for her.

^I don't think avex really cares if she really gets #1 or not.

^they got kuu now so they care even less

when did they changed this? Did they change this so that even the album doesnt sell close to the limited number, it will still look ok coz now that it changed, we dont really know if its still 350k limited.


I wonder if how many and which best albums will be released later on this year and how well it will sell.

I think he was talking about Kumi, not Ayu. They definatley care about Ayu's #1's because she's known for the records she has broken regarding solo female albums/singles reaching the top spot. It took Kuu a while to get incredibly popular, so she has no image to keep up. I think Kuu got shafted by her late blooming since avex doesn't seem to have qualms squeezing her for every dollar she's worth, whereas Ayu has a large degree of independence.

I think Ayu_fan929 was talking about Koda...

correct me if I'm wrong...

numbers anywhere?

^Taiwan charts don't give out numbers, they only give out percentages...

I looked at the 'Album release information' thing on livedoor, and they changed it on 2/19.

http://jbbs.livedoor.jp/bbs/read.cgi...1149092447/514


Yeah. I was talking about Kuu.

I think that some artists release during the "dry" period of J-Pop-sales.. where nothing really "popular" is released..

Whereas in this case, A BEST 2 was released JUST before a flood of highly anticipated releases.. D:

Well that could be a good thing, since more people will be in CD stores and Ayu's still probrably being promoted.

So true. I mean, Mr Children, Exile, Koda Kumi BEST #3, Mika Nakashima, soon to be Ai Otsuka.. Attack!

Like, Black Cherry only got number one for so many weeks because no one was releasing.. D:

Well, it's true.

No one really released in Koda's 1st week, so Black Cherry got first. And BESTYO [released 11.29, same as Secret] got 2nd with 70k or so.

Then in Koda's 2nd week at no.1 Soul'd Out had a single collection, but they aren't exactly popular [this was also during the "Oricon counts 2 weeks as one" thing..].

Then in her 3rd week, ayaka's First Message popped out to get no.2 with 20k or something.. D:

That's exactly what I'm wondering too. Wouldn't make more sense that MORE people would buy a limited best because they know that they can't wait for a couple of more months until because it'll be sold out? I mean...isn't that the whole point of making it a limited release?

^ cause it's just people trying to defend her sales. Everyone knows that BL sales are lack lustre, limited or not.

I think it's because they expect that the sales will not be up to her "usual" sales..

Unlike Ayu, who had the tri-release-thing during SURREAL / Duty / some concert, Koda probably doesn't have that large of a hold on people.

Ayu topped each chart that week, I think.. [almost selling out SURREAL, I believe, since that was 300k limited..]

Lol, Mika's beating Kuu? That's hilarious... I can't believe this at all.

I guess it's cause Mika's not trying to be an AfroAsian now.. :O

I actually enjoyed mikas new album...even though the songs kinda sound similar. Im glad its doing better than The End. I think b&l will still take the #2 spot. According to the indicators, b&l is leading by approx 5000 copies.

lol this is so enternaining.. whatever happens to jpop world O.o

im glad mika is she needs to be number 1 again her music is so damn good! i bought the yes album and didnt buy bounce and lovers! cuz mika is so worth it!

SURREAL wasn't limited to 300k. It was one of those 'limited' editions where avex didn't mention how many they were going to produce type singles. Kind of like EXILE's 'Michi'...

ayu_fan is correct... The first week sales of SURREAL was about 310K, so it couldn't be 300K limited release.

and yes, ayu topped the chart for album, single, and DVD on that week. Oricon did mention about that last year when KAT-TUN did the same thing. :P

I hope YES can chart higher than B&L.

Yay!!! Mika is beating Koda Kumi!!!!!!!!! her album THE END was great, but why the sales aren't great, i haven't buy Mika latest album YES... i really want to buy it..

Go Ayumi!!!!! hope that she will be in top 10!!!

Agree...It seems like everyone is beating Kumi's crap! limited or not! I like there saying "I guess it's time to put a stop to Kumi nasty/unsexy style!!!!":mischief

What I'm tryin' to firgure is what is wrong with selling 500,000? Like many ppl said we're not in the early 2000s anymore. Selling 500,000 (IMO) is like the new one million. So I think many of you should shut up on "Ayu's A BEST 2 selling so low comment. (THIS IS MEANT FOR YOU KUU LOVING FANS)

Give me a break.

That's true. But that can be said for nearly all of the #1 releases. (ie: Single/Album X got #1 because no one else was releasing...)

LOL you crack me up. You can't tell people to shut up for stating their opinions. Ican comment on how much these sales are ridiculous, because this is a BEST album for a very popular artist, and these rates are indeed laughable for what this is, with it being buried by almost every new release that pops up, even mediocre ones. However, we can't say the same for you flaming kuu because you just can't, since the rules of this forum shuts you up on that. Score! ;)

I don't understand all the Kumi hate, she's a good artist. It's not her fault avex has been pimping her for every dollar she's worth, and i don't understand why it's bad if someone sells more than Ayu. After all, Ayu's record is virtually unassalaible in terms of a solo female artist.

Anyways, I kind of hope Mika gets #2, i really love her new album. I would've liked to see Kuu get #1 for BUT/Aisho, i think this is her best single since you. Hopefully, Ayu will get above 60k this week and will stay around that level for the next few weeks.

http://www.oricon.co.jp/news/rankmusic/43067/

there's no news about A BEST 2 sales on last week.. but Mika didn't get #2. Bounce & Lovers got this position instead. and HOME got 693K copies on the first week...

and you see, the person who got weekly #5 sold around 71K this week, meaning that each A BEST 2 sold less than that.. :no

I wonder how Kumiko's feeling about not hitting #1 with either release (GO FLAVOR OF LIFE!)? Will everything be blamed on the single being "limited"?

Well, if the single hadn't been limited, we could be a lot sure, but it just gets cloudy as to how avex has really distributed these singles, if all copies are already for sale, etc. It would help if anybody who lives in Japan could tell us if the single is indeed getting dust on the stores or if it's just plainly unavailable.

I doubt BUT/Aisho was limited. Avex anounced B&L was limited as soon as it was announced, why not say the same for the single? I think they realized it would do badly as previews emerged and the public didn't react well so they said it was limited to mask the single's poor sales. Didn't Cherry Girl debut with 66k? And that single was 2 weeks before BC...

I don't really understand why avex wouldn't want every copy to be available in the stores when first week sales are everything.

Well it's listed as "limited" on Neowing...

Cherry Girl/Unmei's 1st week sales were 61k.

Two totally different best albums released at the same time from a popular artist not selling well =/= One best album from a popular artist not selling well..

:no

Looking at everyone's sales, perhaps we've come to a time when Japanese people just aren't feelin female singers like they used to (with the exception of Utada... since she's always had amazing sales).

That's very true, it could be called "Total Defeat" or "Double Suicide" instead:dead2

How much did cherry girl/unmei end up selling? The sales of but/ashio could sell close to that.

Just over 100,000.

I hope this single does better than Cherry Girl, it's so much better:(

not really my bet is 80% of her sales for flavor of life are thanks to hana yori dango but that doesnt stop it from being one of my fav songs of the year :luv2

Now..ill get back to topic and predict that next weaks sales are 50k. Then 25k. Then 12.5k and 6k respectively.

is it me or is this best album dropping very FAST

(m)u and Secret dropped pretty fast too. I think Ayu might pull off a few weeks of consistent sales in the coming month given that this is a best album, but you never know.


I doubt that's it. I don't know many people who download full albums, usually they pick a choose some songs.

I just stopped in to check Ayu's (and Mr. Children's!) sales and I ended up reading the whole thread! :tired

I think my definition of "success" and "failure" must be different from a lot of people. If a weak album with poor content gets #1, I think that's failure. If A BEST 2 drops from #1 to #100 overnight but stays in my stereo for weeks and its' songs make constant appearences on my mp3 player, I think that's success.

If someone doesn't like A BEST 2, hey that's fine. But don't use its' numbers as evidence that it "OMG sux0rz!" and think everyone should agree. There are artists I like that don't even chart. PULLTOP JUICE anyone? :(

I think that's something only Ayu would know for certain.

In any case, HANG IN THERE AYU!

Yup. We wouldn't know how much effort she really put in in these albums. Only Ayu noes it herself. All we can do is to believe Ayu is giving her best for the fans.

3rd Week Oricon Sales

*6 *46,634　623,812 Ayumi Hamasaki - A BEST 2 -WHITE-
*7 *44,239　611,650 Ayumi Hamasaki - A BEST 2 -BLACK-

1.23 million copies and counting! WOO!

how do you find out? which website?!
and what about the rest of the artists's sales?

Bigger drop that I thought, over 50%..

Huge drop, again. At this rate, it's not gonna sale more than (m)u.

Is Secret still charting?

^ I thought that was kinda obvious for a while.

Huge drop indeed. But at least both of them surpass 600k each and counting. I wish for both albums a very good luck and keep on selling consistently for weeks to come.

I just realized that the albums combined have sold more than Black Cherry. I remember that was one of my wishes concerning the sales of this release. Now to remember if I meant -BLACK- and -WHITE- each or combined. :P

what is the sales of black cherry and m(u) to date?
still at least hope each album can hit 650k!
btw, does ayumi have autograph sessions in japan? most singers organise autograph sessions since fans want their idols' autograph desperately. this way, sales may increase!

mika's single totally flopped. T___T and kuu's new single is so hot. really more people should buy it, just to get the ultrastylish PV. @_@

concering ayu... what was secret's third week sales? forgot.

^Nah she doesn't. I don't think it'll be much of an increase though, as you can only sign so many copies before physically wearing out.

(m)u so far has sold 877k
BC so far has sold 976k and will probably break the mil. mark soon.

I don't care if she has a huge drop...I'm just glad that she was able to sell a million.....

No, no, not only ayu would know, because it's obvious and unquestionable. We human beings are able to tell if someone's work was done with effort and dedication or whether they were a total lazy bum. Ayu did put some effort in releasing A BALLADS while she was a total lazy bum when she made this A BEST 2.
In A BALLADS she made a very great PV with loads of acting, etc. In the song RAINBOW she selected several messages from fans and created the song. It's rather obvious that she had a lot tougher moment when creating the song RAINBOW and its PV than when she made the mediocreness of "part of Me" song+PV. Not to mention, she RESANG You, A Song for XX and Who... . What else did she do for A BEST 2? she just sang part of Me, acted standing still in the PV, and that's all.
Now to make things even worse, look at A BALLADs covers and compare them to the A BEST 2 covers. For real, there's absolutely no doubt a BALLADS covers demanded a lot more work than the "bored ayu" face cover from A BEST 2.

These sales aren't that bad, i just hope she lasts longer on the charts. If she gets above 40k again this week i'd be bery happy:D

still 2 & 3 huh? cool.......

and this time my reaction is done carefully... wehehehe.

I like, actually love, both the song and PV, but they both can't ever be compared to the grandness of both song and PV for RAINBOW. It's a fact.

I was comparing the release of A BEST 2 to A BALLADS, not A BEST, reason why I compared covers. I do know the intention was to make the A BEST 2 cover to somehow look like the A BESt one. However, that has absolutely NO relation to which of those covers actually had much more work either for ayu or her crew. A BALLADS covers were a LOT better worked than those other two.

a simple cover can be more artistic because art can be simple. But I'm not talking about art here, so don't branch things to a point I wasn't even commenting about LOL I was talking about effort and work, and it's obvious the A BALLADS covers demanded a LOT more of those than A BEST 2 covers. Also, to be quite honest since we got into this subject, A BALLADS covers are a lot more artistical than the A BEST 2 covers. You can look at those pictures and wonder "oh why there are two ayu's embracing each other? what's the meaning of that?" Art makes you wonder and appreciate the scene and make several different interpretations out of it. A BEST 2 covers just have a bored make up face. You look at it and just think "Geez, ayu was not in the mood for releasing this album". There's nothing else to wonder about it so bland and unoriginal they are. Period.

The fact you prefer to eat a fast food hamburger over a grand cuisine chef's finest premier dish doesn't mean the hamburger had a lot more effort and dedication when it was made. There's a huge difference. i'm not talking about personal tastes, though yep, I A BALLADS covers had both effort and they shone in what they were supposed to be. A BEST 2 cover is just some creepy face with loads of make up and no real photography talent at all.

For real? Guys, can't you really tell when somebody doesn't do their jobs well? Do you guys have any critical sense? Honestly, you can judge works and tell whether effort or not was put in them. When somebody cleans your house you can tell if they did a rushed job or if they did everything perfectly. There's not any difference to ayu's works, we can tell when she's (for she I mean her and her staff) being a total lazy bum [i.e (miss)understood covers] or when she's indeed flowing with talent and dedication [RAINBOW covers]. To think you can't judge that is in my opinion, being totally naive.

ImpactBreaker, when did you become the supreme judge of effort and quality?

D:

Can i just say. Does it matter that it wont beat the sales of a different album?

No it dosent, If you like the music then good - You shouldent think 'oh noes she is failing' because she is still selling, and the music is still good to you - so forget sales

I wait for a smartarsed responce

It really doesn't matter at all.

IMO, she's doing really well for a solo artist with almost ten years in the biz to be doing a dual-release best..

Has any soloist done this before Ayu? :O

Oh okay, A BEST 2 covers were the best piece of work ever made. Look at those angles of photography. Completely expert. auu had to be in complex pose for the photoshoots, it looked extremely hard to do. Her hair and make up look extremely well worked and almost impossible to be ever repeated in any photoshoot ever again.
"part of Me" song was extremely hard song to be made. the melody is not cliche and we hear a lot of complex elements added to ayu vocals since her voice doesn't definitely stand monotonal throughout almost the whole song. It sends shivers through my spine since I've never ever in my entire life listened to such a fantastic and origimnal work. She put so MUCh effort into make a song like that.
I'm sorry but aren't you really able to judge a work? I'm not saying I'm the supreme judge, and it's absurd that you're twisting things like that.
I'm really sorry that you aren't able to see something and judge whether effort was put into them or not, because sorry if it makes me "supreme" but I have a critical mind that can make that and it's not my fault if you can't judge a work then.

And please don't tell me the (miss)understood covers had hell a lot of hard work because the answer is obvious and it doesn't need anybody to be "supreme' in order to deduce that.

Huuh ?? xDD
Sorry, since when it's a fact ? xD
It's still your point of view in my knowledge, I can present you 1.000 people who will disagree with you, I personally prefer part of Me than RAINBOW, is that still a fact? =)

And if you prefer RAINBOW song/PV, does it mean that the part of Me song/PV is "mediocre" ?
I prefer faaar better CAROLS than A song is born, I LOVE both but I wouldn't say A song is born is mediocre...


I don't know how you can do that, personally I can't!

But to say if we have any critical sense, sorry but this is another subject, as I respected your point view, respect mine please.
I didn't use words like "No I don't agree with you" "You're 100% wrong" "Are you crazy to think like that" I just posted my point of view responding to your way of seeing this work, so please keep those "Do you guys have any critical sense?" comment things for yourself.
It's not because things seem 'obvious' to you that it's the real truth, I didn't say I'm right in any way, or as I'm talking to a child, I really respect you, there's no problem with you, not saying that in a sacrastic way but in a friendly one, or this subject whould have turned to something else long time ago seeing how reactions are in total disagree here =p

Back to the subject, Ayu may look a little "stupid" on (miss)understood covers for exemple, yeah~
But can you say it didn't got any good job behind this "stupid-look" cover ?
(miss)understood covers surely hide a secret message, it can be something like "this is an other of my personal albums, It really reflets Ayu her-self" which may explain the simplicity of the covers.
For the weird look, still she wanted to show some more natural faces, not the diva (MY STORY), the secret artist (Memorial address) or something 10x more artistical (I am...|RAINBOW)
Only Ayu knows the effort & the meaning of these covers =)

Also, what you can find boring, some other people may find it interesting.
What you think "Geez, ayu was not in the mood for releasing this album", some others can think "Oh, what is she thinking about ?" "What is she expressing ? Angry? Dreaming?" "What does she want to say, by looking to us on that way" "Oh man, those covers are weird but can anyone tell me if there is a secret meaning behind those huge eyes?"

You see, what you can find 'obvious' isn't really THAT obvious in reality =)
Everyone has his imagination, his way to interpretate a song/PV/picture ^.^

PS : We don't ask you to say her work is perfect, I find your point of view interesting, if not I wouldn't respond to you in any way, just read your post and pass my way, but you marked some interesting points that needed to be discussed.
If you find this BEST work not satisfying, then it's your point of view, not a reality or a fact, not everyone will agree with you so they don't have or a criticla sense ;)

LOL. That is NOT a fact, its an opinion.

See, while I respect your opinion, when you say it's "obvious and unquestionable" then it seems like what you're saying is fact, when it's not. Sometimes people really can't tell "effort" from "laziness". I've turned in enough last minute projects to know. :P

She certainly did put a lot of work into A BALLADS, but I feel that she made an equal effort with A BEST 2. I mean, how can you tell how much thought Ayu put into the album? Maybe she had been thinking about a second BEST ever since the first one was released. Maybe Ayu spent nights debating with herself over whether or not she should re-sing her songs. Maybe she didn't. If I ever meet her, I'll be sure to ask. ;)

You can think Ayu is a bum anytime and you can think A BEST 2 looks "bored", just don't try to make a fact out of it.