The 2nd part is up here. And no, they won't subtitle this in English.

AIYA! It are people like you that I hate the most... You can't base your opinions on Kumi and her popularity just because she has the trademark "Ero-kakkoii"...

Well, supposedly wasn't the ero-kakkoi supposed to boost her career out of the dump it was pre-LOVE&HONEY? :/

I mean she really didn't do that well with affection and onward until secret :/

yea it was supposed to..

But look, COME WITH ME was the start of her sexy look and that failed.. Crazy 4 U didn't do so well either... if all she needed was a sexy look then why did those 2 singles fail?

It was the tie-in with the just-as-sexual Cutey Honey. HAVE YOU SEEN AN EPISODE OF IT? O_O

that's not the point LacusClyne ... =P

The point I'm trying to get across is, that if Koda Kumi is "only" popular because she has a sexy image, then why did those singles fail?!

Yes, it helped but her music is good and her singing has improved...

Yes I have seen an episode, but the anime's always been like that so it was no shock to people.
The song's always been the same, jus different arrangements...

Thanks so much for the Youtube links =)

I was told that Japanese are kind of like that. As in, they’ll tell you if they think you’re fat. My old Japanese teacher was teaching English in Japan and a teacher told her, “Michelle, You’re looking kind of fat now.” I don’t think it’s meant to be like “pig” and it’s just a cultural misunderstanding for us? Koda obviously wasn’t fat, she had a chubby face but I’d hardly say she was fat.

Hardly. I like how some how Hamasaki is the one who makes Japan stronger and leads everything. She isn’t a god. Avex was doing fine without Hamasaki which means they’d do fine without her.

Kuu has also failed in every aspect compared to Hamasaki (at many points). If not even more so. You cant even compare artist anymore. They have different sounds and even know people keep talking about how sales for everyone in general has dropped. I think Kuu has shown that she knows how to make a come back though. Hamasaki has hardly faced threatening sales and needed to make some kind of huge come back.

It’s one thing to succeed and another thing to succeed, fail and then succeed again. Kuu beats Hamasaki on that level.

No, you see if the person that was responsible for 43% of avex income would leave shareholders would take their money and put it into whatever company that would pick ayu up, or some othe rmusic campany. So Avex shares would plunge leaving the company almost bankrupted. The same thing even almost happened in 2004 when ayu's sales were lower. And that means that a lot of talented people would have to leave avex ecause they coudeln't pay them . There obiously are a lot of talented people working with /in avex on marketing and a lot fo other tings.

Maybe, but Avex cant be dipendent on Ayu, before her Avex was on too, with Namie and other artists so they can live without her too...

I agree ^^

those singles didn't fail because of the sexy image, those singles failed because they weren't any good. :innocent
Her sexy image isn't the only reason she's popular, but lets be honest its good selling power. And Avex will exploit that. :shrug Its not necessarily a bad thing, so why are you annoyed?

they were alright... There were some singles she released afterwards that weren't that great either...

I'm annoyed because people think Kuu is simply popular because she took on the sexy image.. That's partly true but mainly its her music.. her music got better so she got better sales... I was just pointing it out to those who are just ignorant and just base what they see on her looks...

Agree, its true the ero-kakkoi image helped her but her music improved also. it becomes more and more good ^^ back then there were singles not so good...and people who think she is famous ONLY because of the sexy image makes me very very angry..and trust me there are many!!

I would say yes and no. avex was doing alright without Ayu, but if all of a sudden your largest revenue maker leaves the company, obviously it will have a devestating effect on avex.

^I agree. They're spoiled now. Ayu is like their machine. She sells like crazy, and they rake in a bunch of profit. Now that they've seen what they can earn with her, they aren't gonna let her go so easily. And they probably will be fine without her because they still have good selling artists like Koda Kumi and others on the field so I don't think that they'd screw themselves over without her but with her they're making that much more.

I think the reason she is selling better now is that she took charge of her career. The Ero-Kakkoii thing certainly helped her, as she now ranks at the top of polls among the girl most Japanese guys want to sleep with, and the girl most Japanese girls want to emulate. But I think what makes her a great, well-selling artist now is really a combonation of Avex sudden willingness to promote the crap out of her, and her own recent take-charge attitude, bringing out more of a personality (whether or not it is her own) which these guys and girls can take a liking to.

Before that happened, she wasn't much more than an Idol; another doll strung around by a record company, releasing music just for the sake of having some sort of additional, underlying income, while the real stars did as they pleased.

When did she top that poll (or rather when did that poll take place?) Imo, I would've thought it was Otsuka Ai since she has a much larger male base than Kuu does.

yes i don't think thats ever been done yet...