Nowadays though, people would kill for something like that since she tends to do pretty closed room PVs without much impact. While Daybreak was a bit 'dull' for her at the time, it was certainly gorgeous.

C´mon Ayu has always had great Pv's during her carreer. Some old great ones are IMO forgiveness, endless sorrow, rainbow, hanabi epII, because of you...but she made good ones more recently too like don't look back, virgin road, last minute, zutto (I LOVE THIS ONE), sweet scar or beloved.

I think she really has a good videography, even though the team mess up sometimes... cough cough progress, cough cough angel, cough cough feel the love.

The Mad World PV is like the perfect showing of how hair & make-up really impact the way Ayu looks. Her current styling has made her look a little bit different, or even unrecognizable at times. But as soon as they make her up and throw that long hair on her, she looks exactly like she used to.

I just picture FLOWER as something simple but more similar to GAME/decision rather than MOON/Step by step/is this LOVE?/Dont look back - you know, that dramatic acting type. Too bad. The song is still so awesome so I dont really need to see sth "soamazing" to enjoy it. And well, in 5 years I will be propably laughing at this embarassing acting, or.. I will be missing it so much :)

everything looks better in our memories, isn't it like that?

That's the most true fact that anyone wrote in this forum ever :yes

also could be part of some lyrics (is it already?) xD

I have to admit i've done the continuing complaining and projecting of "I HATE THIS" when COLOURS was released. And i still cannot stand pretty much 99% of the stuff from back then. The thing is, there's always someone who's not really into the stuff. And i thnk it's fine. people like that move on eventually. I know i did. And i somehow myself learned to ignore the people who disslike stuff i absolutelly love. I mean no matter how many times you're gonna repeat that, it's not gonna change my POV, so your opinion doesn't matter, really lol In the end it only matters to those who agree with you :D HOWEVER i have to say i've been into situations where i got brutually attacked by fellow fans, some of who i actually respected, for just stating my POV. I think we all need to learn to ignore things sometimes. In the end we all love her for one thing or the other. We wouldn't be here if we didn't have something we relate to. Ayu have had fails for my eyes not once, but i still refuse to give up on her, and that's probably because eventually she gives something that i absolutelly love.

Jesus, let people fucking complain. I haven't been doing it as much or even voicing my honest opinion as passionately as I used to but if someone else wants to, let them. One thing I hate, whether you like something or despise it, is when you can't say why. If you don't like what someone is saying about something, argue the opposing position. That's where the "can you honestly say things haven't degraded in quality?" question pops up. Maybe those who don't mind don't share the same values and/or didn't have that high up on their radar as one of the determining factors as to why they loved ayu so much, so they don't notice much of a difference. But when someone is unsatisfied, and they give reasons, let them. I think it's more of a problem that users exaggerate the amount of "hate" they think ayu gets from fans on this forum.

Having been around for a long time now, I'd say that it is not exaggerated by any means. There are times in the last few years that I wondered whether or not this was still an Ayu fan forum. It even caused some people to leave temporarily who were fans because it got real toxic.

It's lessened in recent years especially after A ONE and her 'return to form' and because of less users posting here in general since there isn't much to talk about while she's touring and she's almost always touring nowadays.

The thing about having opinions is that it goes both ways. If you say something someone doesn't agree with, you may get a reaction if it gets to a point where they want to say something. The issue here is not that people are complaining since that has happened since back in 2003 or even before then, but that there's somehow this strange attachment people have to Ayu despite being repulsed or disgusted by nearly everything she's putting out in a certain period. Like... perhaps step away from Ayu for a bit if every time she does anything, she disappoints you?

Whatever the case is, if we all agreed, things would be boring, but at the same time, I would prefer people liking things as a whole since it makes for more of a calmer forum. I make liberal use of the ignore list just in case, but that can only do so much.

Rewatching Mad World's video, when she becomes made up, it seems to be invoking CAROLS a little bit.

well we just need to accept the fact that you can't satisfy everyone. I have a guess that a lot of people with "i love all the stuff" are mostly kinda fresh/not so veteran fans but I might be wrong. There is nothing wrong about it, that was me back then. I listened to "A Song for XX" and thought "Depend On You" was a massive hit, even I new "evolution" "SURREAL" and a lot of MY STORY leaked tracks lol

for the Colours, well, I still dislike it much, but its not bad as it was D: I remember how I hated NEXT LEVEL omg! And now is one of my favorite album xd

Well, just put some arguments why you dislike/like something. I like to read everyone's opinion even if I don't agree with it.

Stepping away is a good idea, except if you hadn't really given up on the artist, it's quite a difficult thing to do. You follow their work because you know they might drop something that you enjoy, and aint nobody wants to miss that, right? I'm in this situation with a certain someone's that Ayu is a friend of. And everything they do throws me off, yet since i'm surrounded by fans and groups, i still get a glimpse of that stuff. Even if i skip the groups, someone shares somethign somewhere and i just cannot ignore it, because what if this is that thing i've been waiting for?? lol It can be difficult to understand, it's like the material is all wrong for you to like, but you're still hanging onto the only thing that's left - hope and the fact that you used to love everythign they did. It takes more than a couple of months to rip all that out with roots and there's more than one factor to get that into progress.

Honestly, I just kinda take unintentional breaks from Ayu for a while now. I don't really pay attention to stuff or listen to her during these times. Not that it's hard since she tours so long nowadays that there doesn't really tend to be much I am missing until I check up on stuff one day and bam there's something new!

Somehow I feel like it makes the music that much better if you've been away from it for a bit. Lord knows I haven't listened to some older albums since a few years ago...

Ignore list rules. I don't want to read all this shit from "fans" who kill all joy every time, and it helps a lot. My list grew after this thread.

I just don't understand why you guys keep arguing. It is pointless here

One site has very nice comments rating system - all posts with "-" karma become more and more transparent. Too pity we can't make it here. I prefer to see half blank page than this

I agree.
And I find it quite ironic that people complain about people complaining and that people complaning would hijack entire threads, when this threads and countless other threads are filled with posts, which could make a whole book, from people complaining how they find people complaining annoying.
I mean, either argue the point someone made or maybe just say nothing and talk to someone who also liked the release. I think it's possible that one group talks about why they like something and another group about why they dislike something in the same thread. It's not as if liking/disliking a release would change the world for good or bad.
And even though I liked the PVs so far, I personally also liked to read why others don't. I think it's interesting to have different opinions about a specific release.

I noticed it too today, I'm actually surprised it hasn't been addressed here! I sure hope it's not a short PV, but at the same time I guess I don't need another chorus of black and white T-shirt shot. I hope there's some kind of twist in both PVs!

How do you manage? Even after 10 years I find myself listening to nothing, but her stuff. I keep rediscovering songs, especially when I figure out what some of the lyrics mean on my own.

Sure there are times I listen to others, but I always go back after a few days.

Yeah, the lack of some of Mad World was something a little strange I noticed too...

I don't think that line got edited out.

I always listen to her eventually, but sometimes I just don't listen to much music at all, lol.

That's what I thought too!

Who could this be? ;)

PV-wise as usual, I haven't seen any of them yet but am intrigued. Esp by Mad World if it has her old PVs etc showing in the background.

Ok guys. It's time to close the out of topic discussion about "everyone can say their view/ stop to complain about complainers, etc".

I would like to remind you that all opinions (positive as negative) are welcome on AHS as long as you express it in a respectful and civil manner. Same for the debates. We are all different and have different tastes. None view is superior to another.

I think that the video aired in youtube was edited in order to keep the preview around 2 min.

At least, I hope so, because I like too much that song in full.

I wonder when we will get full versions and from where. MTV? Space Shower?

http://i.imgur.com/LlN32KV.jpg http://i.imgur.com/7jkHuDd.jpg

Looking at the contrast between the two, I wonder if diva Ayu will make a return for the 20th anniversary or perhaps even next year... the difference between her recent set of looks and the ones from the mid to late 2000s is very striking, lol. Would be nice if she swapped into it here and there. It's a little weird getting mostly one look from Ayu for a few years (messy, lightly curled hair and then occasionally pulled back tightly) but I suppose it's been going on since she colored her hair dark. I feel like she's been more beautiful than ever but she may need to play with more styles. Perhaps she wants to avoid wigs and weaves from now on aside from some performances which may explain why we don't get much variety in these last few years.

Also, I'm curious if collaborating with Alvin was a bad thing for her since when she did go a bit 'out there', it just looks like too much with her breasts sticking out some hole in the side of a dress. Now that it seems like they aren't working together, perhaps that La Perla event (white suit) is a hint at how she'll look from now on for events.

I would rather MAD WORLD to be like a mix of Do it again and 1 LOVE. Her as a Queen of the post apocalyptic world, strolling in the street watching people gone mad, ocult organization everywhere offers salvation and many others stuff.

About Flower... well rather than a now days actress, I would choose she became a traditional artist, Geisha, just like that Geisha movie. Doesn't mind when she's geting breakdown like in the video, decent acting for me.

The thing I find fascinating about these PVs is the concept of sincerity and raw emotions. There's something about it in these PVs that almost feels forced, but I don't hate it. It's just so Ayu and it feels like she just so badly wants to scream at us how she feels. It almost makes me think of a caged animal.

To me, a truly sincere and raw music video of hers that never felt a bit forced to me was Daybreak. It's the reason why it's still my favorite of hers. Her style is so strange and there's something very surreal about the entire thing, but none of it feels fake to me. Contrasting that kind of realness of emotions with her acting in Mad World and FLOWER is interesting to me.

I just keep churning in my head how I feel about these new PVs. I like them because they make me wonder.

do you guys think that FLOWER might end with Ayu naked or maybe in lingerie, just laid out unconscious on the streets?

I noticed she seems to present herself as a flower in the video, and it seems like cutting her hair and ripping off parts of her clothing could represent a flower scattering its petals and/or withering, which are concepts she has sung before like in "Moments".

right before the cut she seems to be running out of a hotel room, maybe possibly into the streets? i think it'd be cool if she lost more and more of her "petals" and finally died off

I don't know, the message in Mad World PV seems to me just like the opposite. Like, the natural and "true" Ayu being forced to be the Ayumi Diva Hamasaki, changing her image to what she built and retain for so many years...

I like the way she hints to look back at her "past" (the screen) but she doesn't really. The ink coming at her while being diva may be a interpretation for being polluted or a sort of thing. Let's wait for the full thing :)

We saw a bit of the later part of the FLOWER PV in the making.

She's drenched in the shower later on and it looks like the Tell All photobook.

I am a bit sad if "diva" Ayu is gone for good because she always looked so glamorous... however, if it makes Ayu happiest to be this way, there's no reason for her to go back to the way things were.

Well, I would miss it too. That's why I was so happy at the Colours era with all that booklet and photoshop beauty hahaha

Let's see what the future holds, but both PVs seems to rely on a message of not doing what people expect from me anymore and this is how I feel about it.

FLOWER: "You expected from me to be a beautiful geisha, doing some poses (like she does in the beginning) but there you have it, I'm thrashing everything"
Mad World: "You want me to be a diva or the perfect girl of my peak, but I changed and I don't feel any happinness in being pushed to return to who I was back then"

And it really wraps with the album theme: Made in Japan. That's probably how she feels about living there nowadays...

Misa-chan's translation of her Numero article mentioned the reasoning for the title:

That's pretty, thanks! :)
However the last sentence of hers ("But when I was creating the album, what was on my mind were the things which cannot be changed. So it can’t be helped if it’s a little dark.") makes me still wonder.

Since the album cover, I can't really believe that she isn't criticizing some points of living in Japan and the pressures of it. hahaha
I think she would never say that openly, after all, she would sure receive some major backlash imo ^_^"

i have only one person on ignore list since i don't remember how to add people there :no

me too! i became fan when she was the biggest diva (2008) and god i miss those days, she looked so unreal and fabulous :luv2 like she didn't give a flying fck what people say about her

i really miss those days

I like how MIJ tour appeals to Japanese audience through "celebrate and appreciate our country together" but she's also lowkey criticizing it through the album lyrics. I love this because it's like a hidden message of some sort, almost similar to PQ.

I don't think it's that hidden. The beginning 3 songs of the album talk about the negatives of Japan, and then "Survivor" starts and the album changes its mood to talk about the greatness of her experiences in Japan.

Reminds me of her quote about RAINBOW where she said without sadness you can't appreciate happiness (no rain, no rainbow).

It's funny and ironic that the first three are the best of the bunch. They're literally I listen to from this album, aside from the bonus track.

I agree, her criticising Japan is pretty direct in the lyrics and in the PVs.

i thought the only song that was really obvious in criticizing Japan was SURVIVOR..

The beginning of Mad World gives me such nostalgia for the Free & Easy video. I keep expecting that she's going to walk over some grapes.

From what I remember of the news clips previously, she might run into the bathroom and started wiping off the makeup on her face with bare hands and then getting soaked by the shower.

Really? These are simple, but I think they look like her best music videos in quite some time.

What i understood from Mad World's pv it is: she doesn't want to be a diva, look at the image on the screen behind her, she just wanna do music, no be an image

When I read the lyrics and watch the pv, i know that can be that way

I swear you guys could find meaning and write theories and a thesis about Ayu's choice of earrings in a PV. Sugoi...y'all are so deep thinking and considerate..

Well, she has said she has reasons for just about everything she does, so it's not too out there to think certain things have meaning here.

For someone who has followed Ayu for about 14 years, simplicity is such a refreshing attack.

^ she has done simplicity many times before, no?

^ Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think this is the first time she ever stripped down all her layers of a diva to this extent. Simplicity here is not like Love again's simple concept; MIJ's simplicity is almost close to asfxx's vulnerability where all her walls of a diva is down completely.

Wonder how she chose video scenes for Mad World.
It starts from Stadium tour - I think it's her biggest live. Jewel - one of the most expensive PV. Concert tour 2000 - because it is first tour? vogue Far away Seasons video, Heaven (?), documentary from AT07 (?), Beautifil fighters

I am thinking of PVs like How beautiful you are and beloved. Mad World falls into that category I guess but Flower does not, for me.

OMG YOU'RE FROM THE PHILIPPINES TOO! Sorry, it's hard to find Ayu fans here haha

IMO, Mad World is a PV about her carrer. She started small, was natural and all of the sudden, she was made into the diva we see today.. and maybe she wants to go back to her old ways and that's why she's crying.

omg that is a refreshing perspective. No wonder she has butterflies on her body. SHE is the flower that was blossoming but now she just wants to strip all of that off

FLOWER full version is out! Nothing much actually ��

http://www.bilibili.com/video/av5062035/ full pv

...so where did you see the full version?

Too bad they edited the lyrics out

so who knows how to download from that site? lol

Oo, must have aired on TV.

Muto directed.

Some kinda crazy hyperventilating action in the shower.

Wish she could have broken the mirror by throwing the vase at it.

That stare at the end tho...

http://media0.giphy.com/media/B37cYPCruqwwg/200.gif

That link says the video is gone

Seems still up for me. Maybe bilibili is blocked in Japan? Essentially Chinese Nico.

tbh

They probably used a real hotel room so we couldn't have had that happen anyway. Sadness.

She would've bought them a new one :P

I wanna say she didn't go there cause it was a one-cut so if she messed up, they'd have to start all over again.

it really bothers me that she's 'singing' the song at the beginning but doesn't do so anymore some time in.

Not sure if you guys can open Tudou (Mad World full version):
http://www.tudou.com/programs/view/61VXQJZ9IKA/

^ well, it is nothing special. It's good of course.

They seem like to do the "photo burning" effect in her PV. fairyland and Sweet Season both have the same effect too at the end.

^ That photo burning effect at the end looks like a wing (or her tattoo) to me lol

We have full versions of both PVs now. I knew "FLOWER" is Masahi Muto's work since the first time I saw it (but I wasn't sure about "MAD WORLD").

I have to say I like "FLOWER" (maybe because I like the song?) even if my first feelings about it wasn't positive. After watching it couple of times that overdramatism doesn't bother me anymore. I still don't like "MAD WORLD" tho. It's static and boring with amateurish looking footages (first part).

Boring and not so great looking PVs, i prefered A ONE/sixxxxxx PVs :laugh
Don't really see the point of making a one shot PV for FLOWER unless it was with the purpose of not wasting time, if they had taken their time and did several takes it could have been a better PV!