[Scans] Sweet 2009 September

[pchan1986]

i woke up from a nap and seeing these pics scared the heck of out of me. i thought her sunrise cover were bad but this tops it for me *hides under the covers*

[Dokiyo]

i cant believe they didnt use eyeliner......~ but i guess...maybe she's just preparing and accepting the fact that she's aging??? ;__; or something?~ i mean, there WAS talk about how they were re-touching her music vids to show less signs of aging?

[nemesisyume]

Originally Posted by truehappiness

Just look at VOGUE NIPPON x DIOR..

ah some of my fav pics

[Meat Pao]

Who's that?

[Aderianu]

maybe she want to show that she's like a doll in the hands of photographer and other stuff

or mayve she think that looks like a child %)

[octolina]

LOL! hahaha! I'm laughing out loud but I'm crying inside. From the thumbnails I was expecting pure utter poop but it's not as bad as I expected, but still bad. For these pics her features don't bother me that much but her hair and her makeup... ew. I am not going to save these in my ayu pics folder. They are so unmemorable. She looks horrible lately. She is unrecognizable. Bah. When I was watching the Rainbow pv, I was hit with nostalgia and sadness. She was so beautiful back then. She was also so charming in all her (miss) understood era music videos and photos/mag shoots. Now I don't like the way she looks at all, in her concerts, backstage videos, tv appearances, everything!

People are noting how her eyes lost the creases/drooping. I came across a video on youtube about it. I want to find it again and show you. Perhaps this is why she always opens her eyes like that now? Her eyebrows are like "surprised" mode always. She is aging rapidly... so sad.

Originally Posted by Neko★munication

I know you're desperate to cling to any hope that none of this is Ayu's fault and everything that's wrong in the world is always and definitely Kazuyoshi's fault, but come on. It's getting old.

I don't blame him either. He's been taking pics of Ayu for a long time and some of my favorite shoots were by him, for example the A BEST 2 photos. But back then Ayu was still really pretty.

Kazuyoshi just happens to have the unfortunate task of documenting the degradation of, in my opinion, one of the top beauties of our time. I truly think Ayu is at her worst recently.

[tenshi no hane]

I actually like the outfit, make-up and hair..now if only she hadn't looked so dead in the eyes and closed her mouth >.>
thanks for sharing! (is there any chance you could scan the interview-part more clearly? I'd like to translate it, but some of the lines are faded)

[naxxo.licious™]

....

Okay. i like the outfits (as pretty much always) and i like her hair in the last pic.

But i'd like to know who's that girl. I'm starting to miss the ayu that looks like ayu. I'm really tired of the dead looking ayu.

At least i can a look at all the pictures, unlike that gross pic from the S Cawaii photoshoot

@cutieismylife: that gif is funny, but u forgot this:




It's also the same expression from the sunrise cover. Go figure.

I love the nails tho lol

[Sandre]

Thanks for the scans!

[Tom Punks]

I love how people are JUST NOW realizing that Ayu doesn't look like Ayu, when she hasn't looked like Ayu for mooonths.

Yeah, the pictures suck though. She looks like ayaka more than Ayu. Her eyes look like they're about to just burst out of her head.

I miss Ayu when she was still like Ayu. ;(

[octolina]

Originally Posted by Tom Punks

I love how people are JUST NOW realizing that Ayu doesn't look like Ayu, when she hasn't looked like Ayu for mooonths.

Yeah, the pictures suck though. She looks like ayaka more than Ayu. Her eyes look like they're about to just burst out of her head.

I miss Ayu when she was still like Ayu. ;(

hahaha! I know what you mean.


but yea... to tell you the truth, I'm kind of angry at Ayu. I learned to accept myself through Ayu but after seeing her tamper with her already extremely beautiful self, I'm losing the Ayu magic and reevaluating my values.

[habelie]

Lol, ok, calm down guys. If anything, fashion changes. And we all know a lot of different people play a part in a photoshoot, so you couldn't put majority of the blame on Ayu when you don't know exactly what goes on behind the scenes, despite her having a lot of 'control' over her image. Photographer being a factor of a good or bad photshoot aside, concepts are firstly chosen and coordinated by the photoshoot team, right? (I'm just assuming, so feel free to correct me.) Ayu couldn't possibly have the time or energy to meddle with every aspect. Maybe her tastes are changing, in a way many of you (even I) dislike, but I don't think it reflects a change in her character, so calm down~~

Also, I seriously doubt she's trying to look like a teenager. Just because someone (as most women do) likes to look a bit more youthful or girly, it doesn't mean that they're trying to act young (up to the extent of under 20 o.0).
About having an image...cripes, trying to decide whether someone has an image with a handful of photoshoots? Ok, I know she hasn't been looking fabulous, maybe even pretty bad (Sunrise cover x_x), but the ViVi book? That wasn't THAT long ago (depends on your perspective), and she was stunning there. Ups and downs, you know? Is an Ayu 'image' based on photos? To me, she's an artist, part idol, but not an idol who's as dependent on visual concepts as full idols are.

Back to the photos. I don't like them much, but I don't have a beef with them either. I'd like to blame the lighting if possible. Remember, lighting, not only make-up, can do wonders.

p.s. to the single eyelids comment: ...what's wrong with single eyelids? -__-

[ayumisrael]

Even if she expression is the same in all shots, she still looks damn hot
That's all though lol.

[prussian blue]

wow she looks pretty different with less make-up, nice try though

she should smile more

[jon_the_d]

i would like to see more variety in facial expressions, but she does still look really beautiful...

love the gif ! >.<

Thanks for these!
and thanks for the textless ones!

[sugarbasil]

I'm feeling worse and worse about Ayu. Not so much her music (though I've been sad a few times about that, too), but her image is really starting to be...not in my taste anymore. I swear by my entire estate that she got a nose job right before the NEXT LEVEL PV, and her photoshoots are looking less and less glamorous. She doesn't have an image that she can say is "Ayu" anymore. In the past you could be like, "that's an Ayu photoshoot," but now... I don't know what she's trying to do. Look super super young? She looks like how she did when she was 17. She can't try to look like a teenager anymore. It's getting almost disgusting.

What's weird is that she's trying to look super young in most of these, but looks super old obaa-san like in the second photo.

On the bright side, it doesn't look like she used as much photoshop this time around. That makes me really happy.

[octolina]

Originally Posted by sugarbasil

I'm feeling worse and worse about Ayu. Not so much her music (though I've been sad a few times about that, too), but her image is really starting to be...not in my taste anymore. I swear by my entire estate that she got a nose job right before the NEXT LEVEL PV, and her photoshoots are looking less and less glamorous. She doesn't have an image that she can say is "Ayu" anymore. In the past you could be like, "that's an Ayu photoshoot," but now... I don't know what she's trying to do. Look super super young? She looks like how she did when she was 17. She can't try to look like a teenager anymore. It's getting almost disgusting.

What's weird is that she's trying to look super young in most of these, but looks super old obaa-san like in the second photo.

On the bright side, it doesn't look like she used as much photoshop this time around. That makes me really happy.

*steps out of the dark alley* wow... you also think she had a nose job? I do too, and some others here. We're like a secret society... having to keep quiet or else get flamed. I'm coming out too!

Spoiler:

Yes... her nose. It was a huge blow to me after seeing her nose "changed". I was in denial for months saying "oh maybe her face got fatter" or "oh maybe it's just photoshop or contouring, or the angle". But nah... so shocking for me because her old nose was very beautiful and different from other cookie cutter Asian "celeb" noses that were thin and small. Her nose had structure and was more bulbous than the usual pencil thin standards we see today. I actually accepted my nose after becoming an Ayu fan, but now not so much.

I have a different theory though on when she had this done. I believe she had this surgery right before Mirrorcle World pv, I noticed the tip was less fleshy and her nasal bone thinner. I actually also notice some swelling too, her shape was a bit shapeless during the walk through the bridge in the Mirrorcle World PV. The nose is presentable after a nose job only after a few weeks but has slight swelling so perhaps that is why no one saw that her nose was smaller. Then, throughout the months after mirrorcle world up until now, her nose healed and adjusted to the shape we see today. It gets thinner and more chiseled as the skin around it wraps around the underlying structures and heals. I've actually consulted about my nose for surgery, that is why I know all this... still, I hope I am incorrect, and that her original face would reappear... She was so beautiful

About dear Kazuyoshi: I am looking through his online portfolio. I am actually impressed. He has a range of clients and some of his work is really good. He has shot so many ads for so many brands and so many celebrities. *thumbs up*

[truehappiness]

Her photoshoots went downhill after the summer CD DATA for glitter, haha. -sigh-

Last really good one imo was the one Sweet issue that she had the rainbow outfit in, and the Cawaii that Leslie Kee shot in 2008 with her MW hair. Lately, I've kind of just been tuning out her magazine shoots because of how different they've gotten in the last year or two. I remember when she used to have 3 different photographers shooting her [ND CHOW, some guy who works with Harper's Bazaar, and some other notable photographers..] and not just.. Kazuyoshi every.. single.. time.. sometimes I hope that I'll look at the "PHOTOGRAPHER" credit and not see him, but.. -tears up-.

[Tom Punks]

Originally Posted by truehappiness

Her photoshoots went downhill after the summer CD DATA for glitter, haha. -sigh-

Last really good one imo was the one Sweet issue that she had the rainbow outfit in, and the Cawaii that Leslie Kee shot in 2008 with her MW hair. Lately, I've kind of just been tuning out her magazine shoots because of how different they've gotten in the last year or two. I remember when she used to have 3 different photographers shooting her [ND CHOW, some guy who works with Harper's Bazaar, and some other notable photographers..] and not just.. Kazuyoshi every.. single.. time.. sometimes I hope that I'll look at the "PHOTOGRAPHER" credit and not see him, but.. -tears up-.

Awww... Don't cry.

Well, to be honest...
I do think he's not a very good photographer, and he's a bad director... But like, I don't think that everything is really his fault. I mean, I'm sure I used to blame everything on him sucking, but not EVERYTHING he's done has been bad... And I can't really blame him for Ayu's face suddenly looking so weird.

[naxxo.licious™]

Originally Posted by truehappiness

Her photoshoots went downhill after the summer CD DATA for glitter, haha. -sigh-

Last really good one imo was the one Sweet issue that she had the rainbow outfit in, and the Cawaii that Leslie Kee shot in 2008 with her MW hair. Lately, I've kind of just been tuning out her magazine shoots because of how different they've gotten in the last year or two. I remember when she used to have 3 different photographers shooting her [ND CHOW, some guy who works with Harper's Bazaar, and some other notable photographers..] and not just.. Kazuyoshi every.. single.. time.. sometimes I hope that I'll look at the "PHOTOGRAPHER" credit and not see him, but.. -tears up-.

I agree, tho i think the SCawaii photoshoot with the red dress was gorgeous. The sad thing is that it's like not even Kazu's fault:





None of these were shot by him. Yet they look as if they were. I'm starting to think ayu's the one with the problem. She even makes the fish mouth in her entries pictures.