[Official Message] A BEST -15th Anniversary Edition-

[JinHamasaki]

Originally Posted by kinix

As what you have mentioned, she would hate the company or the person who had made the decision. It might even be a gimmick during that time to make the sales. But looking back at A BEST now, I'm sure she is proud of it.

She obviously hated that avex made her release it, but I think looking back she is proud that she put SO_MUCH_WORK into it. 40 magazine covers, 7 commercials (?), DOME TOUR, and she still released two singles right after it! Maybe she can reflect on her "old self" work ethic and inspire her current self

[Andrenekoi]

^^It's not that simple. She wanted to release a best later, with proper time to execute it (like she did with A Best II and A Complete) and this is what she hated. It has to be taken into consideration that it's not rare in the jpop market for a compilation at the end of a streak of (usually) 3 succesful albums to be the last breath on someone's relevance in the market. It was pretty common for someone decline from a million seller to someone selling 300k, 200k overnight after the first compilation album was released, and in a way it was how the labels ended the shelf life of an idol on a high note while she was still profitable.

But A Best didn't end Ayu's relevance, it actually turned her into a cultural icon.

[Andrenekoi]

^Ayu or Hikki? Because Hikki actually got #1 on the first week and Distance outsold A Best.

[tokyoxjapanxfan]

Ayu wrote No more words in regards to the way they were pitted against each other, according to my roommate. Does anyone have any more info about this?

Because it's the first I heard that.

[stepYOU1234]

You know, I don't actually own A BEST so maybe I will buy the 15th anniversary version!

[Bigtop]

A BEST re-release??? I'm disappointed at this...

But hey, at least there's DVD/Blu-ray this time. Initial A BEST release back in 2001 (before 9-11 days, remember? Don't even know Ayu at that time, I was only in elementary school) did not have DVD bundle (in fact, were DVDs that common at that time? Probably not...; Blu-ray wasn't a thing at that time either!), so that's interesting...but a DVD AND a Blu-ray in one Limited Edition package?

WHOA.

I don't think I've heard that very much, if I had before. Although I'm not sure why they would do this - and charge nearly 10,000 yen for it...

But where's our A BEST 3 or new album??? I did not expect the 2001 A BEST to re-release. (Although her profile picture on Facebook and Twitter kinda gave a hint...)

[ExodusUK]

Originally Posted by Bigtop

A BEST re-release??? I'm disappointed at this...

But hey, at least there's DVD/Blu-ray this time. Initial A BEST release back in 2001 (before 9-11 days, remember? Don't even know Ayu at that time, I was only in elementary school) did not have DVD bundle (in fact, were DVDs that common at that time? Probably not...; Blu-ray wasn't a thing at that time either!), so that's interesting...but a DVD AND a Blu-ray in one Limited Edition package?

WHOA.

I don't think I've heard that very much, if I had before. Although I'm not sure why they would do this - and charge nearly 10,000 yen for it...

But where's our A BEST 3 or new album??? I did not expect the 2001 A BEST to re-release. (Although her profile picture on Facebook and Twitter kinda gave a hint...)

Albums came with VCD. I have a copy of Namie's 181920 with a VCD.

[Pieces_of_SEVEN]

Let's just want and see...the remastering of the tracks may really surprise us. And really, we still did get A ONE and sixxxxxx and CDM AND TA LIMITED LIVE TOUR. We will be alright. lol

[Aderianu]

to tell the truth, I never heard any big difference in remastered tracks

[axmish87]

Well this re-release is actually No.1 on CD JAPAN real time ranking and No.5 on CD JAPAN top sellers list. And now I have the urge to buy the limited edition :-)

[Welurru]

As long as M is 're-mastered' with the guitar solo this time.

The deluxe does seem like a collectors only item. It's a shame that it is lacking bonus content. Hikki's team raided the archives for some low quality demo recordings on that First Love re-issue, surely some such demo's exist from Ayu's first 3 albums that could be tacked onto a bonus disc as is, no effort involved, to justify the 9000Yen price tag for the deluxe edition.

[oaristos]

I actually think this release is a good idea. I don't think they're hoping to sell a lot of copies, but it's indeed a nice way to celebrate A BEST's 15th anniversary, even though more extra material would be nice.. I have no intent in buying it, but it's good for those who are interested.

[orbitalaspect]

I think this is actually a good release to replace to the old A BEST, especially for digital sales. Anything released prior to 2010 is very poorly mastered for popular audio formats. While I agree there should be remixes or alternate mixes, maybe an extra disc of A BEST B-SIDES, I think people will appreciate this album better optimized for current sound systems and digital formats.

[ayumisrael]

I wonder if avex and ayu wishes and would make some promotion work.

A BEST is so mono no aware for the Japanese so it might work.

[ayuro74]

anyone know if there will be any TA version?

I don't wanna do the same error I did on Arena 2015, preorder on cdjapan, and lost the TA version

[~angel*ayumi~]

Ta Versions and TA/mu-mo Pre-Order Links are usally revaled later, so atm nobody can´t tell you if there will be a TA Version.

[aliceshields]

I'm holding my finger from clicking "proceed" on CDJ now...

[maxikot]

Originally Posted by aliceshields

I'm holding my finger from clicking "proceed" on CDJ now...

Sounds really dramatic!

[Gustavopc]

If there's a TA version I wonder how much more it's gonna cost lol My GUESS is that there won't be, but maybe we'll get something more next week...

[aliceshields]

^ Not really XD I just don't want to repeat the same mistake for the Arena Tour 2015