Disappointing 10th anniversary.

[alternarist]

i seriously dont understand why you people are even discussing about things like the tracklist of A Complete DVD, the longest gap between the release of 2 new songs, the sales of MW and all the other crap.

The a/m are facts. Cold hard facts. So what are we gonna do? We have complained that the longest gap between the release of 2 new songs is ?? months long. But so what? We have passed that period. So move on.

I also dont understand why pple are complaining about issues like A BEST 2 shld be release this year. A BEST 2 is crap in the first place. AT 2008 took up most of ayu's 10th anniversary year.

I am glad that A BEST 2 is released. We have no say (not even ayu) to decide when anything will be released. So why are u guys still complaining? Perhaps holding the biggest/longest tour ever in her 10th anniversary yr, is her way of celebrating it? Perhaps she wanna get closer to her fans since she has lost her hearing on her left ear?

Less singles. So what? Ayu is still there. Who are we to say that this ayu's 10th anniversary is disappointing. Less promotion. So what? Who says that ayu must have a lot of promotion to celebrate her 10th anniversary yr?

I think this thread holds a mess of extreme opinions/assumptions that shldnt exist in the first place. Who are we to say that ayu's 10th anniversary yr sucks. But again, who are we to say that ayu shld rest?

I guess what we shld really do is to be happy with what ayu is releasing/had released. Those pple who expect more from ayu, i guess u guys are just the same as Avex. Trying to milk everything out of ayu till she is dry.

Originally Posted by truehappiness

But this is the first year in Ayu's history that she's only appeared on four magazines in the first half of the year. She hasn't even been on MUSIC STATION. It's like she just disappeared other than her tours.

The year hasnt even end. so i duno what you are driving at. Could you PLEASE look at the positive side. She disappeared other than her tours because she is recording her new song PERHAPS? or she is ready to give us a brand new concert for the asian concerts PERHAPS?? She didnt appear much on magazines because ayu doesnt wanna be interviewed about her ear and Aneki's death PERHAPS?????

You cant be sure of ayu's schedule in the next half of the year. You cant be sure of how ayu is feeling. Neither can i. So why be so sure that this year's 10th anniversary is disappointing????

Originally Posted by GRACE

The way I see it, Ayu's using her 10th anniversary not to bang into the new, but to celebrate the old.

Well said

Originally Posted by truehappiness

I got used to the whole 2 single thing, and I didn't really care for it, but how can Ayu only have one completely new song released in a 7 month period? It's INSANE.

I dont understand why since u have already gotten so used to it and still can create a thread like this.

Originally Posted by truehappiness

Because it is disappointing?

that's only ur opinion. That's you actually. trying to force everybody to think that this yr's anniversary is disappointing.

To round off my long post, to those pple who find that this yr is a disappointing year for ayu, ask yourself these questions.

1) Will you guys be satisfied as long as there are more promotions?
2) More promotions will make you guys shut up and enjoy everything ayu releases?
3) You guys seriously will not complain about a single thing as long as ayu does all the things you guys mentioned?

[ArimaBR]

Well... It's her 10th anniversary and she is turning 30... that not only means she is a long running artist in Japan, but also that she is getting old to japanese public... We have to keep in mind that in jpop, a female solist tends to have sucess for... 2, 3 years before starting selling like crap. It's note about music, it's about teen girls with kawaii sex appeal (with japanese like) in a country where a 29 year popstar is called "grandma"

Ayumi has a huge fanbase and a huge anti-fanbase also... Her image is getting old and she is already near from over-exposition because of her constant promotion everytime in everywhere over the years. I think the smartest thing she can do right now, in a amazing yet dangerous 10th year (in the same time it promotes the time she keeps making music, it remembers she is "too old" by japanese standards), it's to promote herself only when needed and to slow down her releases... or she may finish like Seiko Matsuda: sell out all her concerts, but nobody care about her recent songs.

And Ayu's singing never was very brilliant... she only found her diaphragm in 2005 xD

[Melrose]

^

For someone who doesnt care you sure write a lot XD Ahwell. the truehappiness and alternatist vendetta XD

[ayumisrael]

Originally Posted by alternarist

i seriously dont understand why you people are even discussing about things like the tracklist of A Complete DVD, the longest gap between the release of 2 new songs, the sales of MW and all the other crap.

The a/m are facts. Cold hard facts. So what are we gonna do? We have complained that the longest gap between the release of 2 new songs is ?? months long. But so what? We have passed that period. So move on.

I also dont understand why pple are complaining about issues like A BEST 2 shld be release this year. A BEST 2 is crap in the first place. AT 2008 took up most of ayu's 10th anniversary year.

I am glad that A BEST 2 is released. We have no say (not even ayu) to decide when anything will be released. So why are u guys still complaining? Perhaps holding the biggest/longest tour ever in her 10th anniversary yr, is her way of celebrating it? Perhaps she wanna get closer to her fans since she has lost her hearing on her left ear?

Less singles. So what? Ayu is still there. Who are we to say that this ayu's 10th anniversary is disappointing. Less promotion. So what? Who says that ayu must have a lot of promotion to celebrate her 10th anniversary yr?

I think this thread holds a mess of extreme opinions/assumptions that shldnt exist in the first place. Who are we to say that ayu's 10th anniversary yr sucks. But again, who are we to say that ayu shld rest?

I guess what we shld really do is to be happy with what ayu is releasing/had released. Those pple who expect more from ayu, i guess u guys are just the same as Avex. Trying to milk everything out of ayu till she is dry.



The year hasnt even end. so i duno what you are driving at. Could you PLEASE look at the positive side. She disappeared other than her tours because she is recording her new song PERHAPS? or she is ready to give us a brand new concert for the asian concerts PERHAPS?? She didnt appear much on magazines because ayu doesnt wanna be interviewed about her ear and Aneki's death PERHAPS?????

You cant be sure of ayu's schedule in the next half of the year. You cant be sure of how ayu is feeling. Neither can i. So why be so sure that this year's 10th anniversary is disappointing????



Well said



I dont understand why since u have already gotten so used to it and still can create a thread like this.



that's only ur opinion. That's you actually. trying to force everybody to think that this yr's anniversary is disappointing.

To round off my long post, to those pple who find that this yr is a disappointing year for ayu, ask yourself these questions.

1) Will you guys be satisfied as long as there are more promotions?
2) More promotions will make you guys shut up and enjoy everything ayu releases?
3) You guys seriously will not complain about a single thing as long as ayu does all the things you guys mentioned?

Awesome post! *hi 5*

[truehappiness]

Well, then why does anyone ever create any threads at AHS? Why don't we all just be nice and friendly and talk about how amazingly gorgeous Ayu is all the time and how thin she is? Why don't we act like we're all satisfied about what she's been doing? Why don't we put up a front and pretend as though everything's okay when it really isn't? Hm? Why don't we do that? Why don't we compliment each other's posts and say "WOW YOU MADE SUCH AN AMAZING POST! I SUPPORT YOU 100%!" just because someone comes out and says "Oh wow, you really are complaining an awful lot, and we all need to shut up." When it comes to Ayu, she's definitely someone that I am proud to be a fan of because of her practically flawless everything, however, I think that being a fan, I also have the right to criticize her when I feel as though she's not performing at her best. So what if you're being a mindless drone and basically complimenting everyone else who is basically taking the "AntiAyu"-argument? So what if you keep replying and basically pointing out what random fans have pointed out in this thread?

That doesn't change the fact that this year so far has been her worst year yet. I don't know why some users just can't see that. I'd say that the people who feel as though Ayu hasn't been performing up to par are the fans that really do care about Ayu, and the ones who think that by attempting to defend her with excuses and bad reasoning are only trying to score brownie points with other users here. I mean, why else would someone come in and say the exact same thing that was said like, 5 pages ago? It's not like coming in here is going to change the fact that the first 7 months of AYUMI HAMASAKI'S 10TH ANNIVERSARY were absolutely dismal by her own standards.

[GRACE]

Once again, I feel the need to reiterate that we Western fans aren't in Japan. We can't see anything she does if it's not on the net. What if she's in some little newspapers, she could have some billboards, or SOMETHING in some corner of Japan, and we don't know about it because we aren't in Japan, and therefore, we're blind to it.

[truehappiness]

I don't care if Western fans aren't in Japan. This year should feel like either the same as usual, aka "Wow, Ayu's doing really well lately!" or even better than that. 2006 and 2007 were slow release years, but we still sorta maybe kinda got a bit more than we did this year. 2006 started out with Startin' and we got eventual coverage of Born To Be... along with promotion. Then the tour started and finished with BLUE BIRD. Then after that, we got the single and more promotion and JEWEL's CM came out. Then Secret came out. A pretty good year. 2007 had opened with A BEST 2 news and everyone was going to go explode somewhere or something and then part of Me was released.. a few months after, Zespri announced glitter as the CM song and fated was released via a Kaidan movie preview, and JUST after that, we got talkin' 2 myself in full via BARKS.jp. This was all followed by releases and GUILTY and etc.

However, this year, she started with an AMAZING CDL, came out with Mirrorcle World, promoted it like twice, started her tour, and... ended it... is now shooting her calendar and A COMPLETE is going to come out. It really just feels a lot.. different.

[GRACE]

I think I understand now why I'm not feeling the same way you are. I wasn't around for the majority of Ayu's career, I only started seriously listening to her in December, so I don't have anything to really compare this year too, therefore I'm not disappointed. This year, taken alone without reflecting on past years isn't bad at all, but hearing more about the way things have been and how she's handled herself throughout the years, I can understand where you're coming from. I just don't think there's any real point in dwelling on it, we can't change anything after all~

[Bad Wolf]

We still have 6 months left in the year, and to be honest I'm not really all that disappointed or interested in her ~wowing~ us. She's going to do what she wants to do and I think what she's been doing is perfectly fine.

[truehappiness]

I'm not dwelling on it, I'm just having to reply constantly to posts that basically say the same things that were said on the first, second, and third page. Oh, and correct posts that basically don't get the meaning of this thread.

In fact, things are looking up now that there's an upcoming CM tie-in [I hope] and A COMPLETE came out like, right after I posted this [like 7 hours?]...

We still have 6 months left in the year, and to be honest I'm not really all that disappointed or interested in her ~wowing~ us. She's going to do what she wants to do and I think what she's been doing is perfectly fine.

I know that some people do believe that she really has been doing fine, and that's okay. However, that still doesn't change the fact that some people don't think that she's been doing enough, you know? It's like, some people LOOOOOOOOVE -insert artist here- because they only release like twice a decade, and some people HAAAATE it.

[maikaru]

Originally Posted by truehappiness

That doesn't change the fact that this year so far has been her worst year yet. I don't know why some users just can't see that. I'd say that the people who feel as though Ayu hasn't been performing up to par are the fans that really do care about Ayu, and the ones who think that by attempting to defend her with excuses and bad reasoning are only trying to score brownie points with other users here. I mean, why else would someone come in and say the exact same thing that was said like, 5 pages ago? It's not like coming in here is going to change the fact that the first 7 months of AYUMI HAMASAKI'S 10TH ANNIVERSARY were absolutely dismal by her own standards.

I'm really very offended by those kinds of remarks.

How dare you say that she is being defended "by some random fans" and then go around saying you are entitled to criticize her?
Are you saying you are the number 1 fan, entitled to voice your opinions regardless of what others may think about it?

No matter if you don't really care about being in japan, or whatever. The bottom line is she is NOT an artist for western people.
Why can't you just see that? The only reason why you know her is because of internet???
She doesnt make tours of music or even appear on magazine so that "western fans" can still get some kind of ayumi experience.

The fact is she wants to FOCUS ON SEEING HER FANS IN JAPAN AND CHINA THIS YEAR. THAT IS DONE WITH THE TOURS. she wanna to make the tours her TOP priority because she doesnt have 10th anniversary twice!!!!
So obviously, magazines, or televisions, or new singles are not priority!!
That's what people are trying to say, and that's what is dividing people!!

No one wants to say "oh maybe you're right," and see where anyone else is coming from.
We are talking a lot about how Ayumi could be offended by what some people are saying, but isn't it offensive when one fan puts down another fan's ideas or defense?

Don't dare to say that those fans are not real fans, the ones who defend her.
The ones who wanna to defend her want to offer explanations to the different things she is doing this year, where her energy is being placed.
No matter if you think it's the right thing or not, it's what's happening, and it's what she's doing.
Why can't we just support what she is doing right now, and say "you know, maybe I'd like this more, and whatever, but I'm grateful she is still doing what she is doing."

She can easily say if she ever wanted to that she would stop her career.
At least we know she still cares about her fan to go and make those nice tours to celebrate with everyone.

Stop being so selfish to be saying that only you and the ones who criticize her are the real fans.
That's really not very appropriate, because we all have different ideas.

[SunshineSlayer]

Originally Posted by alternarist

Those pple who expect more from ayu, i guess u guys are just the same as Avex. Trying to milk everything out of ayu till she is dry.

Oh geez. Please get a stronger grip on reality.

Originally Posted by GRACE

Once again, I feel the need to reiterate that we Western fans aren't in Japan. We can't see anything she does if it's not on the net. What if she's in some little newspapers, she could have some billboards, or SOMETHING in some corner of Japan, and we don't know about it because we aren't in Japan, and therefore, we're blind to it.

Sometimes that's true, but no, in this case the promotion of Ayu in Japan this year is pretty much non-existent.

[truehappiness]

Are you saying you are the number 1 fan, entitled to voice your opinions regardless of what others may think about it?

UH. NO. Anyone can voice their opinions, but if you do have one, be ready to back it up with something a little more substantial than "she needs rest!~~~" or something.

Don't dare to say that those fans are not real fans, the ones who defend her.
The ones who wanna to defend her want to offer explanations to the different things she is doing this year, where her energy is being placed.

You guys are not offering any explanations, just really bad excuses that don't really make any sense considering that just last year and the year before she was just fine, so those "explanations" really don't make any sense.

Stop being so selfish to be saying that only you and the ones who criticize her are the real fans.
That's really not very appropriate, because we all have different ideas.

Well, that's my opinion, but yours is probably different. You said it yourself, we all have different ideas, and that's just something that I'd like to point out about how things have been going in this thread, since some people really don't want to contribute anything to the discussion other than some really.. strange.. yeah..

Why can't we just support what she is doing right now, and say "you know, maybe I'd like this more, and whatever, but I'm grateful she is still doing what she is doing."

We CAN do that, but that's not what this forum is for. I'd say that this is probably the most discussion that the Ayu Chat Room has seen in a VERY long time... I mean, I obviously love Ayu a lot, but I think that this year was just really bleh. Sure, I can have that attitude about Ayu, but right now I certainly don't feel that way at all, so there's no use pretending.

To round off my long post, to those pple who find that this yr is a disappointing year for ayu, ask yourself these questions.

1) Will you guys be satisfied as long as there are more promotions?
2) More promotions will make you guys shut up and enjoy everything ayu releases?
3) You guys seriously will not complain about a single thing as long as ayu does all the things you guys mentioned?

1) Yes
2) No
3) No

tbh, it's not like you don't complain about Ayu.

[GRACE]

The fact that we're a whole ocean, and some of use even land and sea away from her makes a huge load of difference to her fans who are right there. We, overseas, only get to see something when she releases new music, releases new DVDs, or appears on something that's released onto the net, legally or illegally. Ayumi Hamasaki is a Japanese singer in the Japanese music industry, so her focus isn't on us, or what we want, her focus is on her Japanese and slowly starting to include Asian fans and what they want. It took 9 years for her to get some focus on the rest of Asia, it'll take a long time till all our wishes and desires become Ayu's priority. As Western fans, all we can really do is sit at our computers and wait for information, we have to basically accept that.

[truehappiness]

As Western fans, all we can really do is sit at our computers and wait for information, we have to basically accept that.

Well, for the years that I've been an Ayu fan, what she'd been doing was enough. I was getting the sense that she was trying through amazing photoshoots and PVs and the news coverage of new songs at ATXX.. it just felt like I was a part of it all you know? But now that all of that isn't there, it's sort of.. empty. I mean so what if we can't see the arenas that are full of tons of fans? We should at least get some sort of "Ayu-spirit" via the promotional methods she usually has. So what if her focus isn't on us? We can still have expectations of her. It's not like because we aren't a part of her "true fanbase", we aren't able to voice our opinions about what she's doing just because we're unable to "be there"... I mean, I'd feel worse for Australians, since she's never even gone there for a photoshoot. Dang it, Ayu, do that soon.

[GRACE]

I can understand that, even just listening to her music, or watching a concert DVD gives me a sort of... connected feeling, it's like there's something about the woman that makes her feel like you're a part of it all. It's the mark of an excellent entertainer to be able to pull that off, but we still have to accept that we're further away then we wish we could be.

I have a feeling that there's just more that we could see if we were there, but we miss it because of the distance, although, with that in mind, it'd be like that everywhere, so if you double our feelings every year, then I supposed we could conclude that this year would still be lacking. I mean, not everything manages to get on the web, while a lot does, I'm sure some stuff falls through the cracks. Like the feeling of walking down the street and seeing her CDs in a store window, or seeing re-runs of shows she was on(does Japan do re-runs...?), the merchandise parade that follows her tour, we miss all that. I'm sure if we could feel that, this year would seem a little less dismal.

[truehappiness]

About that: I think that pictures are enough. Just knowing that Ayu gets these huge dedicated displays and weird promotions during her releases is enough to get the point across to us, as I think if we really were saturated in all of that Ayu culture, we might get a little sick of it. I'd say that she just lacks the side of her promotion that usually ends up reaching us [the TV talks, magazine scans, etc..] this year, and thus we feel like "Where did you go, Ayu?"... Like.. the magazines this year were really good [Cawaii, and ViVi..] but I feel that the 10th anniversary deserved a little bit more of a bang instead of like 3 magazines celebrating "WE <3 AYU 10th!" or something. Like, there was a huge celebration in ORICON STYLE during post-BLUE BIRD because of her 20 million+ singles and she was gorgeous.. I guess I just expected something like that.

[GRACE]

I sort of see it now, thinking about it, everything seemed to be... quiet. I never really thought much about it since I still was listening to everything and gaining insight into this mindset known as Ayumi Hamasaki. You're sort of right. I like to think she's just focusing extra effort on this tour, after all she has to follow up that amazing CDL with something even better, so I just assumed "Hey, she must be really focusing on the tour" or "hey, she must be tired" or "Hey, she must be going through a lot" and moved on.

[truehappiness]

Well, the reason why I and some other people might not think that it's just the tour focus that's throwing her off is because she's had tours before and still released GREAT material during or right after it.

It's like, she had her largest tour ever before AT08 in 2006 and she still managed to shoot 2 PVs and record 2 brand new amazing tracks back then, and it's like "..Ayu. What the heck?" She'd also done this one numerous occasions in the past, debuting new songs mid-tour like Moments, STEP you, and so on..

[GRACE]

Well, you yourself said you don't think she should have celebrated her anniversary with just a single, so perhaps that's why she hasn't releasing singles. Because she hasn't been recording singles. The way I see it, Mirror was supposed to be Mirrorcle World to begin with, but avex rushed out Guilty and thus it was shortened to what we got on Guilty, and Mirrorcle World was Ayu finishing what she started, meanwhile, instead of pumping out singles, perhaps she's planning to wow us with something else later on this year? Either just before kicking off the Asia portion of the tour or after it's through maybe.