haha I really thought that was Ai when I saw it this morning

anyway, still love the idea and finally a deep meaningful cover since I am/ Duty? so curious why Ayu chooses the concept

Loving the cover & concept, but the text is reaaaaally bothering me. It looks exactly like a watermark! Hoping for a second version with the text elsewhere, or an official textless cover pic that I can use.

I think her look is fierce and angry.
I'm not getting fish lips or emotionless AT ALL.

Or, you know, they just didn't go for the cliché dirty roughed up tied up look. Believability is a useless argument. Covers aren't necessarily meant to be believable at all. Do you think the MY STORY cover she falls out of bed like that in the morning? ;)

Is the original pic a 1:1 ratio? That's odd. Usually CD version is 1:1 and CD+DVD is slightly wider than tall, right?

Looking at her cover history, this is my favorite since RnR Circus.
Love songs and FIVE are also good but the former is a bit too much ponytail and the latter is a shameless copy of True Blue.
LOVE again is pretty but it says nothing about the album content. (the album is quite good if you can look past the midi-sample sound) I have no idea what the connection between the cover and album is, or what her message or theme or point is.
Colours is nice but the shape of her arm always bothers me a bit..lol

she looks like a child oO

like the concept, finally something diffrent

It's an album cover? Why would they shoot for autheticity?

The booklet is basically her rolling up the bed and, in the end, leaving the bed, waking up (Wake me up and the whole "this is the end of dreaming" stuff of the love trilogy of LOVE again clips). I see Love Songs -> Party Queen -> LOVE again as something like a trilogy, with the latest meaning she woke up after a dream (Ls) that turned out some species of a nightmare (PQ).

I have the LOVE again booklet in my hands but I only see beauty shots on and next to the bed lol.

There's kinda a shift in atmosphere at the end when she's sitting next to the bed, but if what you're saying really was the intention, it's not really working.

However, a "sleeping dream" concept kinda works for the album I guess.

Concept-wise, that's probably her best cover art since NEXT LEVEL.

The Ai Otsuka comparison is interesting. My mind didn't go there when I saw the cover, but I could see what people are saying.

Felt the same way.

she looks like melody.

This cover will be perfect if she release a Mad World single

It's an alright cover. I'm not in love, but I'm feeling it more than her most recent covers.

The hair gives me Neko ni Fuusen vibes.

I wonder if the watermark thing is intentional because... literally "MADE IN JAPAN" tends to be that.

It's used as symbol. You'd like to see the rope in dirt but what with her clean dress, clean face and make-up on?

Free & Easy PV meets innocence from A Song For XX cover.

Love the cover and can't wait to see the other versions!

The first thing I thought when I saw that cover was Japanese bondage, that "rope" thing they call Asanawa

Its true, we called out Ayu for copying Ai last month
http://www.ahsforum.com/forum/showpo...5&postcount=28

I was not expecting the cover to look this way. What a surprise!:thumbsup

I have mixed feelings about this photo but overall, I like it.:yes
I think that it will certainly be a standout cover in her discography. It is different from the rest. It does slightly remind me of A Song for xx with it's direct look and simple appearance. I was expecting something at least a little more towards a traditional Japanese culture look. I think the biggest drawback is the text sadly. It kind of dirties the image and is distracting. Almost like a blemish or watermark as others have said.:yfrown For me I love that Ayu almost looks like a fighter with her fists up and her serious gaze. My interpretation of the cover is that even if you feel bound or oppressed, you should keep fighting and stand up. Be resilient. Maybe she had Mad World in mind?

Thanks for the reveal!

I think it's better if she's not dirty. Not everyone bound by rope has to have been tied up, dragged through the mud, and thrown in a hole to rot. Though I guess that's also biased because my general exposure to imagery with rope these days tends to be very clean. So the feeling of being bound is still there without the other stuff.
It's clean and focuses on the symbolism the rope holds while her facial expresses the emotion on an album cover probably since A Best and before that A song for xx. Typically she's more vacant. But here you can tell she is feeling different things. Mostly negative but possibly with some will to go on.

I'm curious to see if she uses the rope in the rest of the album shoot. This cover just really gives me such a different vibe from usual.