A Ballads cover

***nmskalmn*** · #1 17th February 2003, 09:46 PM

http://www.sponichi.co.jp/entertainm.../02/18/01.html

This article suggests that there will be 4 different jacket designs:

http://chuspo.chunichi.co.jp/00/hou/..._____000.shtml

[Added by Kawai]
Logo here

Comfirmed info from Official Website

Initial press: special casing + booklet (4 patterns)
Password for website on PC and Mobile Phone.

shinji1698 · #2 17th February 2003, 09:57 PM

Wow. 2 Ayus' about to kiss! *_*

DigitalGlitter · #3 17th February 2003, 09:58 PM

I love the cover! Its a little wierd though. There goes avex withthe different cover designs again >.< but with the way that one looks i can tell that the rest will be very interesting...

eekamouse · #4 17th February 2003, 10:44 PM

i like the cover its cute

very fitting for a cd full of ballads. i can't wait to see the other covers

#5 17th February 2003, 10:56 PM

Oh, eww! I do not like this cover at all. It seems Ayu really loves herself a lot. Bleh.

shinji1698 · #6 17th February 2003, 11:02 PM

Its not bad to love yourself, and the idea for the cover was most likely not Ayu's, but Avex's.

***ImpactBreaker*** · #7 17th February 2003, 11:03 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by biscuitgirl
Oh, eww! I do not like this cover at all. It seems Ayu really loves herself a lot. Bleh.

LOL I wonder if you watched the PV "WISH" from hitomi.........

Anyway the cover is good but it makes me feeling so odd...Thanks for the info nmskalmn!

die_no · #8 17th February 2003, 11:10 PM

it's not that bad although maybe a bit different/weird from the other covers

thx...

Belinda · #9 17th February 2003, 11:34 PM

i think the cover is very beautiful...

eVe · #10 18th February 2003, 12:10 AM

it's a bit strange...but it's not bad

angela · #11 18th February 2003, 12:22 AM

the covers are nice!! but kinda abit gross.... hEeee~

fantaisie.sign · #12 18th February 2003, 12:25 AM

It's a bit odd though. . . but it doesn't look like an actual cover. Maybe it's an eyecatching promo image instead of one of the covers. If so, then it will definately be interesting to see the other covers.

**Grantith** · #13 18th February 2003, 12:29 AM

Ewww that's an ugly cover. I don't like it at all. It would be nice if it didn't look like she's kissing herself. I don't like it. I dunno. It's just fake, like Avex is trying to make her look like something she's not. I dunno. I don't like it. I think it would be a very cool cover if there was only one of her in the picture, just her sorta like sleeping with her eyes closed. That'd be cool.

Thanks for showing us nmskalmn!!!

**EdenZone** · #14 18th February 2003, 12:32 AM

i also don't really like the idea......

#15 18th February 2003, 12:41 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Grantith
It's just fake, like Avex is trying to make her look like something she's not.

How so? That shes not two people? JK. I don't see what you mean.

I think the cover is just beautiful, I see it and I don't think they're about to kiss at all. It looks calm, peaceful. Maybe representing two different parts of Ayu in harmony. Just a thought

**Grantith** · #16 18th February 2003, 12:46 AM

It looks like she's kissing herself. I don't know. My first thoughts were that Avex is trying to stir up controversy to boost sales ya know? Sorta like they're making a provocative cover to sell more. I don't know.

But I'm sure there is some hidden meaning behind the cover. Maybe Ayu will say something about it.....

Welcome to AHS GLAAngel

By the way, didn't Namie Amuro have a PV where she "kissed" herself? lol

fantaisie.sign · #17 18th February 2003, 12:47 AM

The more I look at it, the more I dislike it. It just doesn't look like something Ayu would do. Yes, Ayu does do some outrageous covers (i.e. Duty & SURREAL, LOVEppears, UNITE!) to grab attention, but this one is awful. I'm trying my hardest to see the beauty in it, but I simply cannot. It would be different if they weren't going to kiss each other. When I first heard about the album, I thought there would be a cover similar to Dearest, but it looks like the same font from the Dearest cover was used for this one. Why not recycle the Dearest cover? Avex is recycling everything else nowadays. If anyone can find the message in this cover, then that will definately be interesing.

matt · #18 18th February 2003, 12:52 AM

If you bothered to read the articles posted, they say the 2 ayu's represent different things:

Ayu on the left represents Ayu from the past (with straight hair)

Ayu on the right represents current Ayu (wavey hair)

I think it's a really beautiful cover. And if you all looked past your really *really* immature "eww theyy're going to kiss!" opinions, you would too.

#19 18th February 2003, 12:54 AM

Hmm.. I see what you mean now. But I don't agree with it <g> I think that if they wanted to generate more sales by making the cover provocative they would have just had Ayu half-naked on there or something like that. Basically, there are a lot more ways to make something provocative. Personally I don't see anything provocative about the cover, but maybe it's just me.

Maybe I'm reading too much into this but I see the cover as a sort of yin and yang thing. Two different parts in harmony together as a whole. Maybe I'm reading too much into this.

I think they're making a killing with profits by simply releasing the same songs again.. ha. Then multiply that by four, for four different covers which people are obviously willing to buy - it certainly helped out H. - and that's big dough. Recording studio time for one song, Rainbow (I'm not sure if any other songs on there are going to be rerecorded a la A Best), and then they only other cost sound be the actual production of the materials. Seems like they'll make a lot. Maybe they're be enough profits to give us some remixes on the next single <g>

Thanks, I'm glad to be here.

**Grantith** · #20 18th February 2003, 12:58 AM

There are ways of expressing those ideas that don't necessarily have to make a scene. I dunno. I personally would have rather seen her maybe hugging herself, or her two halves just being together or embracing each other. But when they're put into postitions so that it looks like they're kissing, then that is done on purpose to make controversy, in my opinion. I just think that the two Ayu's just about kissing each other is trying to be too sexuall. For my tastes, it took the idea of the two Ayus and took it overboard. But that's just me and two cents.

By the way, not all of us know Japanese and the autotranslations can be iffy sometimes. And it's especially hard to try to figure out deep meanings like that from an autotranslation.