Ayu: Anything Goes [XXIV]

[Evan Odinson]

^FF VIII is a master piece tbh love that game! and yes, I'm a huge "Tales of" fan, they usually didn't use the official japanese opening in overseas releases, they'd replace it with an instrumental or some random guitar solo lol but at least the symphonia HD collection for PS3 had the original songs, then Graces F had the english version sang by BoA as well, but when Xillia came out it even had this message in the back "Main song: Progress by Ayumi Hamasaki" in both english and spanish versions, that was something new and same thing happened later with Xillia 2 and Song 4 U, they are the only games in the saga to have the artist name featured on the cover, even the latest game, Berseria, which has an amazing opening by FLOW! doesn't have it written, makes you think and I hope you can play them, not only because of Ayu, Xillia and Xillia 2 are wonderful games! If you can try to play Tales of the Abyss or Berseria Vesperia is one of the best and is finally coming to PS4 and steam I think as well, you shouldn't miss that one neither

[maxikot]

FF VIII was such an amazing journey to me, my first big game, god it was so long ago ^^ I will play "Tales of" games cause they are somewhere in my plans but must feel "inspired" to do so. Currently when I have time I play other stuff.
Coming back to Ayu, I really like both Progress and Song 4 U, even without thinking that they are part of games, they somehow stand out on their own.

[njanjayrp]

Originally Posted by maxikot

FF VIII was such an amazing journey to me, my first big game, god it was so long ago ^^ I will play "Tales of" games cause they are somewhere in my plans but must feel "inspired" to do so. Currently when I have time I play other stuff.
Coming back to Ayu, I really like both Progress and Song 4 U, even without thinking that they are part of games, they somehow stand out on their own.

FFVIII was my very first JRPG. I was around 12 back then. It influenced my life greatly. I still think it’s better than VII.

As far as Tales of series goes, they had their fare share of good titles like Tales of the Abyss and everything up to Graces f. After that, they started to pump them up a bit faster (or so it seems) and the series has lost its spark fot me. Xillia 2 was probably the worst title in the series for me. Zesteria had so much potential, but the story and the characters are made of cliches and stereotypes so i am not sure whether it’s worth the time as there are a lot of great games out there.

[mi|kshake]

^I love FFVIII too. It was the first game I ever completed. So much nostalgic.

hen Graces F had the english version sang by BoA

OMG, I didn't realise there was an English version!

I've never played Tales of Xillia but I did go into GAME to look at the box so I could see Ayumi's name on it lol. Maybe I should give them a try, I do love Progress and Song 4 U.

[Katsuyuki012]

^100%

[oaristos]

It always surprises me that Ayu doesn't have many songs in video games. When I first listened to her music and realized how hugely popular she was for an entire decade, I was expecting to see her songs in many games but that's not the case at all.

Even though I haven't played much of Final Fantasy, I'll always be thankful to FFX-2 since it was my first contact with Japanese pop music. And that moment literally changed my life forever.

Now I'm nostalgic.

[Andrenekoi]

Originally Posted by oaristos

It always surprises me that Ayu doesn't have many songs in video games. When I first listened to her music and realized how hugely popular she was for an entire decade, I was expecting to see her songs in many games but that's not the case at all.

Even though I haven't played much of Final Fantasy, I'll always be thankful to FFX-2 since it was my first contact with Japanese pop music. And that moment literally changed my life forever.

Now I'm nostalgic.

Well, neither does Hikki or Namie...

[URANUS]

Ken Hirai is having a concert in New York. Why can't Ayu do the same in America? She could treat the American fans to one or two shows. I think LA or Las Vegas would be perfect for her.

What's the chance of this happening? Ayu coming to America for one special concert?

[truehappiness]

I think it's possible considering how much she likes to travel to the US every so often but lately she's been in Hawaii more than LA or NY so maybe that would be the option as a smaller kind of show since Japanese fans would probably also go for a 'tour package' of Hawaii as well. While the chance isn't zero IMO, it just doesn't seem like she wants to do stuff overseas anymore. She barely acknowledges Asia anymore it seems after doing a-nation Singapore and that bit of "promo" with JJ Lin.

A long while ago, someone here potentially had Ayu as a candidate for their anime event in Australia but the price quoted to get Ayu over there was kind of extremely high, lol.

[channy]

Gosh, I just rediscovered the cover of the "2CD version" of A SUMMER BEST on a blog and it truly is the only Ayu album cover I would describe with "horrific" xD

I was so shocked that I immediately had to check my digital discography in order to make sure the cover wasn't edited by some internet trolls

[attractive nausea]

Originally Posted by channy

Gosh, I just rediscovered the cover of the "2CD version" of A SUMMER BEST on a blog and it truly is the only Ayu album cover I would describe with "horrific" xD

I was so shocked that I immediately had to check my digital discography in order to make sure the cover wasn't edited by some internet trolls

One of her worst covers ever lol The saddest thing is, she looks really stunning on the other pictures

Spoiler:

[chocopockymaster]

Originally Posted by channy

Gosh, I just rediscovered the cover of the "2CD version" of A SUMMER BEST on a blog and it truly is the only Ayu album cover I would describe with "horrific" xD

I was so shocked that I immediately had to check my digital discography in order to make sure the cover wasn't edited by some internet trolls

That cover is honestly the stuff of nightmares

Burn it tbh

[indigochild]

Just popping in here to say the Remo-con remix of Wake me up is still INSANE. I probably rank it above the original tbh and I loved the original.

[KittyKathy]

Originally Posted by indigochild

Just popping in here to say the Remo-con remix of Wake me up is still INSANE. I probably rank it above the original tbh and I loved the original.

I agree. I love that remix a lot.

[tokyoxjapanxfan]

I believe we can thank Leslie for those?

[truehappiness]

Originally Posted by tokyoxjapanxfan

I believe we can thank Leslie for those?

Yes, during that era he retouched her really weirdly like she was made of wax.

[xLuna&1LOVE]

It sounds sad but those covers are the reason I am not buying the physical release. I rather make my own Ayu summer playlist.

And the booklet is not great either. Even though I agree she looks good in some of the pics, it is such an awkward shoot.
There are plenty of magazine summershoots which looks so much more beautiful... wish she made a photoshoot for everything that time and used those instead of... this bloody nightmare.

[truehappiness]

It was probably Leslie's biggest flop with Ayu which is weird since he'd had so many good shoots with her till then. I wonder what got into him (and her) at the time with the contacts and funky editing on all the shoots they did together.

[Sky High]

When I saw the cover of the album I thought it was Mariah Carey.

[~angel*ayumi~]

And again the TA Mail is about complete nonesense.... after my heart made a jump reading the word Single it was down to the ground very fast.....