Duty: Shrouded in Mystery

[explodingbird]

Really, I'm not sure if I should post it here on in Enquiries, but I'm currently working on a re-write of an old review I did on Duty. While writing it, some stuff did pop into my head, and I have some questions I'm hoping for answers to, as well as... well, your thoughts in something I've noticed. I'm not sure if it's just me, I'm not sure if it's just her fanbase outside of Japan, I dunno.

Anyway! I'll use an excerpt for you all to get to what the hell I'm talking about:

I still haven't figured out the symbolism myself - Japanese pop music empress Ayumi Hamasaki, spending the entirety of the album art in her Catwoman threads, trapped in a very elegant, stylish, and insanely small dressing room sort of setting behind bars, alternating between looking very bored, thoughtful, and amused. Far be it from me to try and make sense of something that's very visually engaging, since I suck at gleaning hidden meanings from stuff - and since Ayu is someone who apparently has meaning behind every single thing she does, every eyebrow hair she may pluck from her head, every shade she may dye her ever-changing hair, well... yeah, I just have to wonder what in the hell Duty is all about.

In fact, aside from being the highest-selling proper album in her discography (damn near 3 million in Japan), Duty seems to strike me as something that's just... hard to figure out in general. It's not often listed as a fan favorite. It's not often spoken of like every album she's put out since I am... - in fact, even LOVEppears is listed as a fan favorite more often than Duty. And aside from the highly-publicized Trilogy (we'll sort-of cover that in time) of vogue, Far away, and SEASONS, very few songs on here are ranked among her best and most popular - hell, I can really only name SURREAL and SEASONS as the only songs on here most fans give the time of day to, from memory.

So... answers to or theories about what Ayu's leopard-print and imprisonment may symbolize, and thoughts on the status of Duty as the eldest bastard child of Ayu's discography?

I have my theories on Ayu's imprisonment myself, but I'll wait to hear others first, and as for the catsuit... ferocity? Loyalty? Pride? Feminity?