Good choice! I imagine people still remember the song from the last Evangelion movie.

That Eva version of Sakura Nagashi PV is just awesome, I really really love it :heart

the PV is great, I'm happy she's back

JPS has the performance now.

I hope she inspires some creativity in Jpop again lol.

^thats what we all hope for, cause J-Pop been too save and dull with some exceptions the last years...
with all the songs we know so far i'm really pleased so far with this album!
especially "2 Hours Vacance", it's been on repeat since 2-3 days

Sigh... Haven't seen her performing live in such a long time. I'm so glad she does promotions this time.

Her performance was everything :love

It was actually better than I thought (I read ublog before watching the live). She seemed a bit nervous in the beginning, but getting emotional in the end. I closed my eyes and just listen to her voice... so splendid....

I still can't believe she's back. :scry

9 Days !!!

I think I never heard Hikki having so much control over her own voice! Her vocals were pretty solid, and this makes me very happy (and surprised)! <3

Her performance on Music Station was simply beautiful. Vocals were on point and she seemed pretty emotional singing "Sakura Nagashi". I just can't wait for Fantôme to be out!

One wonders why she didn't sing First Love. Or Can You Keep a Secret? Or Hikari. Or, y'know, a ~special medley~ given that this is a special episode meant to appeal to the general undiscerning public who just wants to hear hits amirite?

My guess is she sang a recent song because it's her long-waited comeback and her first TV performance over a half-decade. And the song being Evangelion theme could help the choice.

Everyone's record sales are declining, but it's clear who has more confidence in their new music. I respect Hikki a lot for this. She's obviously trying to sell a record, but at least she's trying, and it's forward looking. Ayu's new music isn't necessarily inferior. I wish she (or her management) would give her hard work the due respect it deserves.

The theme being hit songs there would be nothing Ayu could sing that wouldn't be at least 5 or even 10 years old. She had her fair share of songs big among her fandom and even some that got notorious over the years because they were performed at concerts, but she didn't had a general public hit in a while.

Unlike Hikki who had this tie-in from a movie that "earned Japan's second-highest weekend box office of 2012 with 1,131,004,600 yen (US$13,913,200).[20] The film subsequently grossed the equivalent of over US $60 million at box office." font

In other words, unlike Ayu, Hikki had a 4 years old hit to sing that happens to be part of her next album.

I don't want to be that person but is there anywhere to watch/download this performance and I'm dying to see it and, of course, I can't find it anywhere

All of her 4 pre-order tracks off Fantôme are in the Top 20 on iTunes Japan, Sakura Nagashi at #12 after her live performance!