Oh, there's a how we became fans/what's her best album discussion here? Let me take a part in it as well then~~
Prepare for the longest post I have ever written in a Kuu thread, muhahaha.
I started listening Kuu with affection in 2006. I wanted to listen every album through that was released between 2002 and 2006 (up to BEST ~second session~). Affection and grow into one were pretty boring to me at first but feel my mind was the first album that caught my attention by being awesome. Secret made me even more amazed and so did BEST ~first things/second session~.
But I didn't call myself a fan yet. More like a casual listener because at the time I really disliked everything that was somehow sexy (I know, it's stupid as fuck) and when Black Cherry was released I wasn't sure if I wanted to listen to it but then I thought, "But BEST ~ss~ is amazing, what if Black Cherry is even more amazing?" which really surprised me actually. Back then I was still in my Ayu/Hikki phase, you see.
But I still listened to Black Cherry and after doing that I've been a loyal Kuu fan. That album is just awesome in every way I can think of. And therefore it's definitely my favorite album of hers. After that release I have listened to/watched everything.
My Kuu phase was on it's highest peak during 2007-2008. I pretty much listened to everything on repeat 24/7. And the result was that I overplayed Kingdom to the point that it sounded boring for a while as well. But then I told myself not to listen to it until I feel I have to and that took me 6 months or something, haha. :'D During those times I was busy with TRICK era which was awesome, but the album itself didn't meet my expectations. Singles were amazing (especially TABOO, I think it's my most played Kuu single ever, followed by Suki de x3 / Anata dake ga and Whatchu Waitin' On?) but album tracks didn't amaze me at all at first. Album has then grown on me a lot, and now I can say that I love it. Maybe not as much as the rest, but it has some of my top 20 favorites in it so it can't be shit.
What happened with TRICK also happened with UNIVERSE, but it did so with her singles instead of the album. I felt like the best stuff was left for the album only (UNIVERSE, Work It Out!, No Way, and You're So Beautiful are the ones I talk about). But it was only a good thing because that album totally made me crazy for her music just in time for the 10th Anniversary, lol. UNIVERSE is actually one of my favorite albums now. I think it's in the top 5 actually. Lyrics are one of the best parts of this album because I can relate to these so well.
As for the albums 2011 onwards, I totally love them. Dejavu is also one of my top 5 favorites actually. That era is flawless. All singles were great (I totally played the living shit out of Suki de, suki de, suki de, Lollipop and POP DIVA and later also Bambi, Melting and Aitakute were on repeat). JAPONESQUE era was also awesome (I totally overplayed Ai wo tomenaide, KO-SO-KO-SO, V.I.P. and Lay Down), as was Bon Voyage (SHOW ME YOUR HOLLA, Dreaming Now!, Koishikute and Go to the top were the most played songs) and WALK OF MY LIFE (Dance In The Rain and HOTEL are so far the most played tracks. I'm still gonna play Like It, Lippy, Fake Tongue and few others like crazy) eras. I can alrso say that imo WOML is better than Bon Voyage was. WOML era is also gradually turning into one of my favorite Kuu eras as well.
The list of my most played/most loved Kuu albums/eras:
01) Black Cherry
02) Kingdom
03) Dejavu
04) JAPONESQUE
05) BEST ~second session~ / WALK OF MY LIFE
Added the list just to see for myself how my fangirlsm has made me unable to resist her music.
As for Black Cherry being overrated, I don't think so. I personally think Kingdom is the one that gets more praise than it deserves. I mean, it's a great album and it will probably always be one of my favs because I have a lot of good memories from those days, but still I don't find it having that everlasting atmosphere on it like with Black Cherry. I could listen to it for weeks without getting tired of it. With Kingdom it's not like that at all so I always feel surprised when someone says Kingdom shits on Black Cherry and everything that it is (I have read comments like this on other sites).
Also, I gotta confess that Kingdom era also destroyed my Ayu fandom completely until You were... / BALLAD was released in 2009, but that's not important really, lol. Anyhoo, imo everything about Black Cherry is perfect. It doesn't have any shitty songs or anything and that tour she did for this masterpiece is also amazing as hell. I just stan for this album so bad that it even goes past my stannism for Ayu's (miss)understood. :'D
Also, I don't think JAPONESQUE is overrated. Imo it got more hate than love when it was released unlike Kingdom which got no hate. It was praised as her best album to date. JAPONESQUE was mostly said to be shittier than shit on some sites I went to look so I don't get where this statement comes from tbh, but then again, everyone has their opinions.
