Do you think Ayu's current image is too alienating?

[ExodusUK]

I think in the 5 years or so she's gone too overboard on the gay/camp aesthetic and it's probably been a bit alienating for some of her audience.

[saigodansu]

I agree. Especially when she started having Gomi go as a drag queen only to be replaced by Timmy as a drag queen who goes above and beyond the actions of Gomi on stage. I think it's very alienating. Not to her gay fans I'm sure, but to anyone else I'm sure it is.

[kinix]

And the influence from leslie... it's still acceptable now. And hopefully doesn't increase inthe future.

[Jawdarna]

Not at all! I think it is a wonderful aspect of her personality (as we as fans see it). That is, she is accepting of people who have differentiating sexualities from the majority.

For me personally it is her dancers I find alienating.

I mean, if they're utilized as they were in Dome Tour 2001 I have no problem with them.
Post 2006 though, they are almost featured in every live, and as such I've begun to fantasize another tour in the vein of DT2001, or even Stadium. Even PoM, a toned down concert in comparison to the opulence and pure grandeur of AT2008/2010 and PCDL, still really overused the dancers.

Of course, I realize that this is really a clash of opinion. Ayu thinks that they add a little bit more. As a fan, I think they should be used when most effective, otherwise this overexposure just looks flowery.

Sometimes I just want to see Ayu and the band. Sometimes there doesn't need to be excess.

Sorry for being off-topic, just my two cents about Ayu and alienation. When she's alone on stage, she just seems to connect to the audience far more. Not that this doesn't occur in the modern Ayu era, it's just not as common. :/

[ayuuk]

Originally Posted by ExodusUK

I think in the 5 years or so she's gone too overboard on the gay/camp aesthetic and it's probably been a bit alienating for some of her audience.

Yeah agree.

[shinji1698]

Lol really?

[GREENsora]

I don't mind it at all.

[SURREAL__RAINBOW]

To be honest I don't see the difference. She is always portraying love stories about heterosexual couples, she still needs to give us a story about homosexual love. She is not alienating any gender in my opinion, on the other hand, she is showing more "love" for her homosexual fans, even though it might not be what most of us want to see.

The problem is that homosexuality is portrayed as something staged, only for the show, and it's only one lonely gay guy being all silly on stage, and it is not taken as serious as it should be taken. I enjoy the fun, don't get me wrong, but I would take my hat off to ayu and her team the day they decide for portray a homosexual relationship taken seriously as any other romantic relationship.

The only time we got some kind of proper homosexual love story was in GREEN's pv, although it was pretty much unspoken of, so we can only guess its meaning and for many fans it may be taken as something trivial and not about homosexuality particularly.

For me she is mostly portraying what she's experiencing with the people who are with her at the moment, partying and drinking seems to be fun with her gay friends? Maybe she didn't party as hard with her regular friends before.

I think that someday she'll get over this era of gays partying and show the real side of gay love, which is not that different from heterosexual love. A love story between two boys or girls in one of her pvs or even at one of her concerts should be something interesting and refreshing, and surely it would surprise many people.

[URANUS]

This is the real Ayu. The real Ayu loves gay culture and is very gay friendly. I think it's a very good thing, especially for Japanese gay fans who have never had a VOCAL gay friendly superstar like Madonna and Lady Gaga.

I remember the LGBT community in Japan was very proud and happy when Ayu released "How Beautiful You Are". The community probably felt happy that a superstar like Ayu has given them support and love. It's amazing and I love Ayu for that.

(Although I heard Utada Hikaru is also very gay friendly. Her "Kuma" bear is openly gay and Utada said she supports gay marriage.)


You don't hear about celebrities from other Asian countries being THIS vocal about gay rights from their super stars.

[yoshino]

^wow I didn't know about that for Hikki too.

I think Ayu did really make this different move towards the gay side looking back at how her style is like for the past years. I remember being kinda surprised when I saw she had that gay scene in how beautiful you are cos I never thought Ayu would incorporate gay inside her pvs. But then she has quite a few gay friends so is actually not that surprising. lol. I guess maybe my acceptance level not that high, but yeah whatever Ayu does, I'll still look at her lyrics to see the meaning behind it and try to understand.

[delangre]

i still enjoy her shows, so i don't really mind. they really had it too overboard though when it came to dancers...

[PoetGirl]

Im proud of her for doing that.

[Chris85]

Originally Posted by PoetGirl

Im proud of her for doing that.

Same here.

[Minttulatte]

Ayu's performances aren't that gayish. Her PVs aren't either that gayish imo. I've seen a lot more by Koda Kumi since BUT release tbh.

[Andrenekoi]

On the last 5 years she had 2 gay themed PVs, 1 gay themed performance (SLT-Sy at AT10) and 1 "gay" concert (AT12).

This is not a lot, not even near "a lot". And considering the gay theme seemed to be part of the Party queen concept, using it on the AT12 level it's probably over now.

[chikocchi]

Originally Posted by Andrenekoi

On the last 5 years she had 2 gay themed PVs, 1 gay themed performance (SLT-Sy at AT10) and 1 "gay" concert (AT12).

This is not a lot, not even near "a lot". And considering the gay theme seemed to be part of the Party queen concept, using it on the AT12 level it's probably over now.

Amen
I saw nobody complaining when she was in love with herself in "RAINBOW"
Or her lesbianism in "GREEN"
But all of a sudden now that Timmy's here she's "too gay"
Double standard at its finest

[Chibi_Venus]

...the hell, you don't come to AHS in months and suddenly Ayu's nothing but a gay image to the audience? Where have I been... lol

However, I'll agree with those that are saying they're proud of what Ayu is portraying. It's different and wonderful.

And totally agree with the post above.

[ayupan90]

There is no such thing as 'too gay'.

[NintendoHTF1242]

The way you worded the thread title is weird.

And who the hell cares? Other than that one fellow who shut down his Ayu archive because of Lady Dynamite lol

[happiholic★]

Originally Posted by Jawdarna

Not at all! I think it is a wonderful aspect of her personality (as we as fans see it). That is, she is accepting of people who have differentiating sexualities from the majority.

For me personally it is her dancers I find alienating.

I mean, if they're utilized as they were in Dome Tour 2001 I have no problem with them.
Post 2006 though, they are almost featured in every live, and as such I've begun to fantasize another tour in the vein of DT2001, or even Stadium. Even PoM, a toned down concert in comparison to the opulence and pure grandeur of AT2008/2010 and PCDL, still really overused the dancers.

Of course, I realize that this is really a clash of opinion. Ayu thinks that they add a little bit more. As a fan, I think they should be used when most effective, otherwise this overexposure just looks flowery.

Sometimes I just want to see Ayu and the band. Sometimes there doesn't need to be excess.

Sorry for being off-topic, just my two cents about Ayu and alienation. When she's alone on stage, she just seems to connect to the audience far more. Not that this doesn't occur in the modern Ayu era, it's just not as common. :/

Pretty much how I feel. I don't like Timmy, but I don't mind the use of gay culture in general in her work.