'again' mini album out December 8th, 2nd of five 15th anniversary releases [IV]

[My Rainbow]

^TRUE

Ayu fight back in the MY STORY era for her not to be treated like a puppet and a product by her label and now she has to fight for her not to be the puppet of her selfish fans.

[TeamAyu2004]

^ just wanted to add that I felt like My story was talking about what she had to do between A Best to Memorial Address (about fighting back)... its her story about it... lol.

And I will say that cultural differences are a huge part into it... quite frankly non-japanese fans will never truly understand what a japanese fan can feel, but also, japanese fans need to understand that not all ayumi fans are japanese nor do they have the so called 'weird' cultural view points. And yes its weird because its a weird cultural thing from a western view point.

But beyond any of that, taskinillusion was right in the other thread no one is going to agree because we are all of different cultures.

[My Rainbow]

Actually, can somebody explain to me where is the current scandal? I don't get it. It's not like she's behaving like Lindsay Lohan, to put an example

[AyUmIXx]

^ nothing just ayu and maro in relationship, and she said on her TA that she'd put her career and personal life separate, but then she put maro in her PVs, and that's what i heard that made the japanese fans mad, and some of the ppl in AHS as well.

[My Rainbow]

^HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

XDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

Western scandals are WAAAAAAAAAAAAY JUICIER

[Yumsushi]

Originally Posted by jbrat2219

I understand that there are strong cultural reasons for this issue becoming a "scandal," but can you at least see how this is... well, for lack of a better word, an overreaction?

It's just silly to me that Japanese fans as well as some foreign ones freak out over her expressing her love for someone on a cover but when she has her ass out on all fours, no scandal!

People may have complained about Party Queen but no one boycotted it.

Maybe it is an overreaction, however, whether its right or wrong for them to feel this way, if what maikaru is saying is the general consensus in Japan right now then this overreaction is the only thing that matters because it affects Ayu and everything related to her right now since they're the significant majority that buy her cds and go to her shows. If people are doubting her sincerity and thinking she's a try hard that is a big problem. Attacking maikaru (not you but everyone else) is just unnecessary and hardly proves that western fans are better.

Maybe this is just culminating from alot of things that happened over the past few years that made Japanese fans iffy. I just think her and her team royally screwed up because there is no way they couldn't predict this backlash. If this is the fanbase they are catering to, then they have to abide by whatever the norms are over there.

And I will be the first to admit to boycotting PartyQueen lol, I just can't bring my self to buy it.

[freedreamer]

i think...the PVs dont even point to Maro and Ayu having a relationship..whats there to be pissed about. Ayu is single again by the end of it all...thats probably the ending fans love? If this news wasnt announce, then everyone would treat Maro just as they would treat a normal actor..and still, i dont see a big problem with her own bf in the PV when he's just playing a role that isnt even reflective of their own relationship

=====

here's my review of again..finally

Wake me up - This is really different! I didn't think so much of Sparkle (ok maybe the verses). Ayu's vocals are superb!!! I love how strong and fierce they are and the beat is really good. Ayu really knows how to write songs and make them catchy (the Wake Up and Get Up parts). I think the production is very complete..esp with the bridge, that adds to that completed feel. (honestly, when the song started, I could totally Kumi singing this)

Sweet scar - The opening really slayed me. It's so beautiful. again, it feels complete. With the violin in the bridge. I could see myself listening to this for several nights. Just this song and me haha.

snowy kiss - truehappiness was right. I could see kalafina doing this song and it would be HOLY. I think Ayu's vocals are kinda high for this amazing song haha! But ok, not a valid complaint. snowy kiss is really amazinggggg!!!! It's as thought sending mail and Last angel had a lovechild. I could see this song as those grand anime movie theme songs. The verses give me images of this riding-on-the-bike-through-the-city scene and then there are epic battle scenes HAHAH.

Ivy - the second verse touched me already. I love songs when the chorus sounds not so distinctly as a continuation from the verse. It's gorgeous! I can feel Ayu's emotions through this song. Very nice ballad.

This mini DOES feel different from Ayu's normal works and has definitely ventured away well. great!

[Linoa62]

CD+DVD version pics including booklet
http://tieba.baidu.com/p/2033524483

[njanjayrp]

Originally Posted by maikaru

I know it's really really difficult to understand why I'm saying these things, like it's a cultural thing, etc.

And before I go further, I wanna point out that in no way in my last post did I say that she's exploiting this relationship. I have revised my thinking from before because clearly this relationship isn't giving her any bonus points in her professional life, so yeah.

However, there comes a point where some things are just too insensitive to the public. First and foremost, she is a public figure. She has said many times before that she has a responsibility to be Hamasaki Ayumi at all times, for her fans. That she has a responsibility to portray and perform the role of Hamasaki Ayumi. Unlike overseas fans, Japanese fans really become very fanatical about their favourite fans. Sorry to say, but it's the truth. Every single thing the artist does, we react to personally, whether it be very very good, or very very bad. There are some people who even commit suicide over their favourite artist' actions. She has continuously said that even if only one person listens to her, she will continue to sing. That means that she actually cares about what her fans are thinking, feeling.

She isn't some mad artist who wants to experiment and doesn't care about the feelings of her fans. We all know this.

Before I say anything I just wanna state that I am against music videos such as You & Me, Love song, Last angel and the latest two featuring Maro. Now being fanatical isn't an excuse and the whole thing sounds like a treat. I mean what people are going to commit suicide because Ayu featured a man she is dating in her music video? They might as well do. While I understand Ayu has an image and whatever is left of her reputation to maintain catering to a mentally damaged fan base isn't something worth considering. I'd like her to keep her private life separate from her professional life as much as possible, but if she doesn't want to do so, I'll just ignore the things I don't like. For instance I won't even bother watching the whole PVs for Wake me up and snowy kiss. It might be the cultural thing, but some things are inexcusable. Yet it's Ayu's problem to deal with things like that.

Originally Posted by maikaru

It would definitely not be a problem if we hadn't known, because the circumstances have changed. There is another factor in the equation that seems to be swaying what she's thinking and what she does. Like I said before, this equation is the relationship between both of them. No one knows for sure what's happening behind the scenes, but we only know what's happening on the surface. And it appears like it's causing Maro to get preferential treatment, and not even Mannie was on the front cover of any of her albums. Or in the booklets.

What I'm trying to say is, what may or may not be, the way it appears is the way I describe. And like many other of her fans over in here, I just can't accept that everything was a coincidence that she chose Maro randomly.

And whether you guys may hate this kind of thinking, the truth is that Japan right now has the exact same thinking... everyone you talk to about Hamasaki Ayumi says "Oh she's gone so crazy. I loved when she was younger, but now she's just trying to hard. She's over."

And looking at Again sales, it's true. This scandal has hit her very, very hard.

I don't believe a single person can speak for everyone, but I guess that's the way the Japanese public has felt about her for a while. People change and the Japanese public should too. Shuya had a preferential treatment and no one complained really...

[saigodansu]

AHS had quite a few posts of foreign fans boycotting Party Queen. And for everyone who posts theres atleast 10 who don't post here because of the backlash having an opinion gets here. And for foreign fan there's 1000 or more japanese fans. So that adds up to alot and explains the Party Queen sales that never achieved what the previous 2 albums did. Now with AGAIN the boycotting is in much bigger #s and if this thing with Maro was planned for publicity for the remainder of the releases for her 15th Anniversary and for CDL, then the amount of fans she loses is going to be more than she has left.

Like someone stated above, her people should have thought this out before hand.

[Didz-19]

Not that I hate Maro/Mannie or whoever she's dating...but it's better to keep them apart from her work~i mean, come on Ayu, we all love you, we love your music....but please don't use your own staff in your music video...i love "blossom" / "endless sorrow" / "connected"...even though there's no Ayu in the video...but it was really good.

at least use other artists in your video~

[freedreamer]

Originally Posted by Luna62

CD+DVD version pics including booklet
http://tieba.baidu.com/p/2033524483

thanks! gosh looking at the comments below in that forum...its pretty harsh :/

anyway, are there official big scans somewhere?

[TeamAyu2004]

okay, with the sales going up for again, I do believe that speaks for itself.

nuff said.

[Linoa62]

Originally Posted by freedreamer

thanks! gosh looking at the comments below in that forum...its pretty harsh :/

anyway, are there official big scans somewhere?

On baidu they don't really like Maro, most of them prefer Shuya XDD
But no, I haven't seen any scans yet :/

[Andrenekoi]

Originally Posted by truehappiness

I still think his usage in again is simply as a faceless male model even though most fans know of him as "Maro". They try to not show his face at all.

I said it once or twice... We only know it's Maro cuz we are obsessed enough with her career to recognize her dancers by their hairstyles... Most people of this forum wouldn't notice it's him if they weren't members of the forum. Even funnier... this is an album about break-up with 2 pvs that are part of a story about break up.

Maybe the idea wasn't "in love again" but "in love/alone again"



And Jbrat is being brilliant <3

[AyuWorld]

Originally Posted by Didz-19

Not that I hate Maro/Mannie or whoever she's dating...but it's better to keep them apart from her work~i mean, come on Ayu, we all love you, we love your music....but please don't use your own staff in your music video...i love "blossom" / "endless sorrow" / "connected"...even though there's no Ayu in the video...but it was really good.

at least use other artists in your video~

that way is better and os I can watch her PV the way I watch it as an artist art work without being influencedby the real true which is sometimes made me a bit biased to liking the PVs


anyway such a pity why still no DVD rip for the PVs? need to see the HQ version for Sweet scar especially

[TeamAyu2004]

Originally Posted by Andrenekoi

Maybe the idea wasn't "in love again" but "in love/alone again"

And Jbrat is being brilliant <3

I didnt think of it that way again, but the PV's do kinda agree. She was in love, but it happened again (the bad parts). I'm thinking although Ayumi has found LOVE again (it works both ways), she might realize that its going to fail and thats why she picks fights with maro over and over, to break the marriage dating up.

AND

this whole boycott business erks me to no end.
I'm ashamed of some people, I really am. And If I could apologize to her for her fans, I would.

[freedreamer]

Originally Posted by TeamAyu2004

I didnt think of it that way again, but the PV's do kinda agree. She was in love, but it happened again (the bad parts). I'm thinking although Ayumi has found LOVE again (it works both ways), she might realize that its going to fail and thats why she picks fights with maro over and over, to break the marriage dating up.

I like that point-of-view of the two minis
very reflective of reality.

====

btw just wanted to add that snowy kiss's remix is AMAZINGGGGGGGG. that sound and dubstep worked so well
Missing's orchestra just made it so many times sadder while keeping its beauty
always been a fan of Melody and that piano-only version was simple and great!

[TeamAyu2004]

I also like the found love again more...
who knows. She looks happy in the pictures and what not, lol.

She might be staying quite and stuff because of all this madness. Its sad really that she has too.

[Delicious n Bold]

adding the two mini albums together plus You & me makes an album that is 38 minutes long, almost as long as Memorial Address.
HMMM