Ayu and PVs

[ExodusUK]

Do you think needs to work with some fresh blood director wise??

[mizuki-7]

Yes for sure because when you work with an old staff I think you can't improve and make a fresh things

[TeamAyu2004]

Her PV's have always failed for me, about 80% of the time... She doesn't need fresh blood, she needs to drain it and replace it. =)

[Zeke.]

I always thought Ayu's PVs were so interesting up until around NEXT LEVEL, and my friends agreed. Sure, they were pretty cryptic, and one could argue most of the time there really wasn't a set plot - but for some reason they were so interesting, and visually stunning. So different than American MVs and such. But, they have become such a bore and extremely cheap looking...

[Leaf King]

I'm usually happy with about 50-75% of the videos she releases. If she makes two, and I like one, then I'm not going to complain. Party Queen is the album with my least favourite video material.

[CatGirl]

YEEEEES. That would be helpful

[mizuki-7]

Her PV's have always failed for me, about 80% of the time... She doesn't need fresh blood, she needs to drain it and replace it. =)

It's a matter of taste ... A lot of her clips in her golden time were pretty good starting with SURREAL for me her PV are less and less interesting since RnRC ! not all were good before but I've not been very amaze by one of her PV since GREEN ! Song 4 u was very promising but nothing special has happend so it's a little disapointing ...

I like 90% of her PV though XD

Evolution, Dearest, M, Endless sorrow, Free & Easy, Real Me, Rainbow,Ourselves, Hanabi: Episode ll, Forgiveness, Because of You, Moments, Inspire, Game, About You, Walking Proud, Is This Love?, Step You, My Name's Women, Fairyland, Alterna,Ladies Night, Startin', Blue Bird, Beautiful Fighters, Jewel, Momentum, 1 Love, Part Of Me, Talkin' 2 Myself, Decision, Together When..., (Don't) Leave Me Alone, Marionette, Mirrorcle World, Days, Green, Rule, Sparkle, Next Level, Ballad, Microphone, Sexy Little Things, Don't Look Back, Sweet Season, Virgin Road, Brillante, Return Road, Song 4 u

[LeeLeeNeko]

I wish she would stop using the same people all the time, yeah. Masahi Muto's PVs are getting so predictable and boring tbh, even though they have potential.
Then again it might be because of the budget, but seeing how legendary she is I'm always surprised at how cheap some of her PVs look.

[stepYOU1234]

I think part of the problem was her having some great videos in the past but she has also just had ok ones. I think sometimes we are spoiled by storyline/imagery PVs. M , appears, HANABI ~episode II~, evolution, forgiveness, GAME, HEAVEN etc weren't too deep but were nicely filmed which is all I hope for. If there is more then that's great. Song 4 u and Missing are nicely filmed and interesting ideas even if they don't develop a story. So I'm pretty happy! We've had Don't look back, Sexy litle things, MOON and Virgin Road which had some story and experimental bits in them

[Andrenekoi]

This is most likely the only subject I agree with TeamAyu2004... Most of her pvs just aren't very memorable IMO and I really like only... 20% of them all.

[Raleigh]

Does Ayumi release quality videos? Definitely yes... she always has. I can't even think of a video which wasn't visually stunning. She probably has one of the best teams available for Japan and is lucky to have a decent budget for most of her videos unlike other artists nowadays.

I don't think overall she ever does a video which is completely bad.. the problem seems to be more of a (1) creative matter and (2) the fact that she has released a lot of epic videos in the past which makes it hard for the new videos to live up to them:

1. Most of her videos have a lot of random imagery which doesn't seem to make sense or a storyline which leads to nowhere. And the most frustrating factor is that usually these videos have a big budget! It's a shame because several videos could easily be simply amazing with a dose of creativity (Mirrorcle World comes to mind) I think these two factors are what disappoint fans a lot. Personally I'd rather see something simplistic like "Endless Sorrow" but with a beautiful storyline and a theme.

2. However as I said.. it is hard sometimes for an artist to live up to their own past masterpieces and bring new ideas to the table. Ayu had a lot of visually stunning videos which left you thinking and uncovering every single scene like alterna or ourselves. I have noticed that she has tried to reinvent that factor in some videos like Return Road and Song 4 U but they seem to fall in the trap that they can't seem to go anywhere or feel recycled.


Having said all that I still feel we're spoiled with great quality videos.. I just wish that they put on effort on storylines or creating an actual theme rather than having random imagery thrown in. I think she's really falling short by not developing a fully fledged theme for a mini-album or single when releasing a video and making the whole package of her releases less memorable. Any artist with a good budget can make a visually beautiful videos but few actually do release a truly memorable one.

[ayu-fan]

I wish she would go back to Wataru Takeishi, he directed most of her best PVs imo. I found his works to be randomly artistic. Changing the directors made her PVs worse X( *still can't get over Shake It*

The only complain I have about ayu's PVs are picture quality (I would die happy if all her videos have this k-pop crystal clear HD quality lol)

[isthisLOL?]

The biggest problem with Ayumi's videos does not lie in the directors, but rather in the video concepts. The direction itself tends to be great. Set design and image composition are stunning, too - and her use of symbolism is rather great. But the concepts for the videos themselves are usually stale or go nowhere, so even the best director cannot turn them great. They usually do a very good job with the concept they have, but a bad concept with a great director attached is still a bad concept and will result in a subpar video. Look at Song 4 U as example, the direction is wonderful, the design is sleek and functional without any major flaws, but the concept itself is incredibly bland and would fit a short commercial better than a 4 minute clip.

Originally Posted by Raleigh

Most of her videos have a lot of random imagery which doesn't seem to make sense or a storyline which leads to nowhere.

...rather than having random imagery thrown in...

You should brush up your knowledge on Baroque, Romance and Classical era symbolism. It seems to me you simply don't get most of her symbolism- rather than it being random -, since I can assure you in the vast majority of cases it is not random and her videos make perfect sense upon having a basic knowledge of the types of symbolism she uses. They may not be particularly deep or unique, but they are definitely not random.

[Delirium-Zer0]

To make my points I'm only gonna refer to recent videos so people don't go "OLD AYU VIDEOS WERE BETTER blah blah blah" at me.

Ayu's videos are very hit or miss. On the one hand she has incredibly meaningful videos like "Don't Look Back" and "how beautiful you are," and on the other hand she seems to not even understand her own point like "Shake It <3" and "NaNaNa." Sometimes she really wows me with symbolism, twist endings, and art direction, and other times she makes me go "why the heck did I just watch this." The most frustrating times are during videos like "Song 4 u" where she does both - like isthisLOL? said, she has a great looking video that SEEMS to be meaningful but then it just doesn't go anywhere really.

I can't tell you how many Ayu videos I'd love to just go in & redo with her because I KNOW what she's capable of. Sometimes I get the feeling she doesn't know how to talk to us anymore.

[Raleigh]

Originally Posted by isthisLOL?

You should brush up your knowledge on Baroque, Romance and Classical era symbolism. It seems to me you simply don't get most of her symbolism- rather than it being random -, since I can assure you in the vast majority of cases it is not random and her videos make perfect sense upon having a basic knowledge of the types of symbolism she uses. They may not be particularly deep or unique, but they are definitely not random.

I am aware that the symbolism she uses are not random. I've been a fan of her music for years and I used to spend hours doing research and trying to interpret her videos and blogging on Channel Ai blog ... It was definitely one of my favourite things after she released her videos.

However it seems that lately her recent videos seem to have suffered on this matter... as if they're trying really hard to give meaning to a video without giving any direction to it and it does feel random sometimes or at least without any depth. As Delirium-Zer0... it really seems that lately Ayu seems like she is unable to talk with us any longer although we still do get a few videos which are really well done. I would also love to go back and re-do some of those videos which have the best ingredients to create a music videos but then disappointingly did not lead anywhere.

[ExodusUK]

Don't look back is a good example of a PV that doesn't have to be an action packed but is still very good. A lot of the time with Ayu's PVs "Was that it????" just runs through my mind after watching them for the first time. Return Road has to be the biggest and most wasted opportunity recently...like wtf was the director thing? The pacing is awful and Ayu is barely in it.

My favorite PVs from Ayu are from RAINBOW to MY STORY. I don't think it matters though. I mean ourselves is a great PV, but if she were to do something like that again, it wouldn't be the same.

[Pieces_of_SEVEN]

HELL to the YES! Seems like a lot of her PVs these days, NOTHING is happening but her walking around, looking pretty, and singing. I definitely the days of the older PVs.