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Where to start with this one, lol.
I'll get my thoughts on the album booklet out of the way... I think these photos were taken with Leslie Kee for "SUPER AYU" around the same time "FIVE" came out. She did the shoot for Party Queen (which ended up in the second SUPER AYU photobook later), rightfully decided it wasn't right for the album, and used these shots instead. That, on its own, was a good move.
But you can tell these shots weren't taken with the Party Queen album in mind, which makes me more forgiving of what I considered to be tiny little issues.
Unless you're an alcoholic or know someone who is one, the photo of Ayu having breakfast laughing with Timmy nearly negates the whole book, which is geared towards loneliness. The idea of the booklet seems to be that she's got roses, expensive shoes, plentiful jewelry, etc. but no friends once the party is over. However here she is with one real friend, connecting and having breakfast? That's a bit off. Yes, if you've been affected by alcoholism, you'll notice the whiskey on the table. But that detail is the only hint that maybe something is wrong in that photo. That looks like Ayu does indeed have at least one close friend she can talk to.
Ayu's making a duck face when posing with the 10/25 date on the mirror. If you don't know how sad Ayu considers "faking happiness" to be, and if you don't know the significance of that date, and if you don't know that Ayu wrote a death anniversary on the mirror in the "Memorial address" booklet, this photo looks like she's celebrating a happy anniversary, not mourning a sad one. Too many prerequisites for understanding that one, all because she's making a cute face.
I don't want Ayu to fake tears for these sorts of photos, far from it... but taking things in an artistic direction that makes it more obvious that there's sadness hiding behind the bright, happy eyes & smiling face would be preferable. Even just vignetting the photos or something would help considerably.
As for the cover art, Ayu just needed better people for that. lol... It should have looked much, much more obviously like a tabloid magazine cover, but it didn't QUITE get there. Ayu shouldn't have felt the need to say anyone was a genius for figuring that out.
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