Do you think Ayu was at fault too?

[waterballoon]

wow wow wow

amazing PV del-0... I had a great time reading your opinion. Mmm it really brings out the fact that she's really human.. to make such a mistake. Kudos to her courage for trying out in love really, and kudos to you for letting us know another perspective of her life.

[kumis]

Damn, I should become an Ayu fan so I get in on all this J-diva's drama

[yoshino]

I think the same for Ayu's relationship with Mannie cos I dun understand her reasons for the divorce and everything else with him (even with Return Road). Cos I think he's better than Maro. It is obvious that Maro used her to make a name for himself now in which I'm really mad about this.

But anyway, relationship can be that complicated sometimes. I'm sure part of it is to create news, and part of it probably Ayu just doesn't want to reveal the exact reason for divorce. That's the difficult thing for her being a public figure I guess. I can feel that she just wants to be in love and nothing else. Maybe the marriage feels too heavy for her...

Well, she's just human enough to experience all this. I just hope she's grown to realise what she really wants and be with a good guy for the rest of her life.

[emi♡]

Yeah. What Deli said.

I think she was a total stupid ass for some things, but who hasn't been. She is a person after all. She gave 10+ years to her first relationship that she sailed with for her career.

Now she can pursue what she really wants.

I make fun of her a lot, because I think humor is healthy, but this is her life, and she is free to make as many mistakes as anyone else.

As for the photobook. I think some people take that a little too literally. I don't necessarily believe it was the entire act of the photobook, as much as it might have been the last straw in realising she wasn't compatible with that person, and probably even that, the age difference made for them being in different stages of life.

[Ayusan]

@waterballoon Amen! Just, I think Mannie is much better than Maro. Personally, since his first time on stage with Ayu, I despised him, something was wrong with him.

But the whole photobook excuse still makes me laugh. Ok so she didn't like the photobook, shot by ... oh yeah her dear friend Leslie Kee (that she got out of jail because the guy isn't able -on purpose- to follow the laws, his crying session about this made me cringe). Who never thought : does my friend will like it or no, it is special and it is her husband .... No, why should he?!

So Leslie Kee did the shoot behind her back, and then in a way help to ruined her marriage (if the book is really THE excuse) but, she kick off her husband and follow the one who kinda stabbed her in the back ??? Oh my, Ayu, what kind of girl are you, no pride? I would punch Kee square in the face if I was in your shoes! Why to forgive to Kee and not her husband ?! He didn't see "the bad" in the book? I don't think Kee did either, he didn't even think it was awkward to shoot her husband, naked, without telling her although the book was not meant to be an unique copy but for sale! By the way, what kind of "friend" would do that?

So, she can tell whatever she wants about the photobook, I will never believe it.

[kinix]

Originally Posted by Ayusan

@waterballoon Amen! Just, I think Mannie is much better than Maro. Personally, since his first time on stage with Ayu, I despised him, something was wrong with him.

But the whole photobook excuse still makes me laugh. Ok so she didn't like the photobook, shot by ... oh yeah her dear friend Leslie Kee (that she got out of jail because the guy isn't able -on purpose- to follow the laws, his crying session about this made me cringe). Who never thought : does my friend will like it or no, it is special and it is her husband .... No, why should he?!

So Leslie Kee did the shoot behind her back, and then in a way help to ruined her marriage (if the book is really THE excuse) but, she kick off her husband and follow the one who kinda stabbed her in the back ??? Oh my, Ayu, what kind of girl are you, no pride? I would punch Kee square in the face if I was in your shoes! Why to forgive to Kee and not her husband ?! He didn't see "the bad" in the book? I don't think Kee did either, he didn't even think it was awkward to shoot her husband, naked, without telling her although the book was not meant to be an unique copy but for sale! By the way, what kind of "friend" would do that?

So, she can tell whatever she wants about the photobook, I will never believe it.

Wait till you see ur husband acting gayish in a photo book, maybe you'll feel the same way. When ayu didn't response to mannie's photo when he announce as his birthday gift, I knew something was going terribly wrong. A photographer might want you to shoot something, but that doesn't mean that you'll have to follow his idea. If ayu doesn't help leslie that time, more gossips will be spread like ayu is ungrateful to leslie and more bs to come. And from then on, Ayu doesn't seem to have anymore collaboration with leslie. We'll see in the future if she still does.

[waterballoon]

I'm so happy to know everyone's opinions on this...

I just want her to be happy. I mean she is someone who has inspired millions across the globe and given us, the fans, a kind of strength and happiness I can't find in Miley Cyrus

[waterballoon]

^ wow do u have that reaction on a video/photo? realized I've been missing out on a lot lol

[hsienko]

My personal opinion is that both relationships were stagged. I think Manny was completely staged and I think Maro was only partially staged, I believe they were together in some fashion but to what extent I'm not sure.

I think both of them were staged just for the simple fact that I think she'd been getting flac about not being romantically connected to anyone. I mean the rumors that she is actually a secret lesbian have been going around for a long time and I mean there is hardly ever rumors of her even possibly being connected to someone, I mean why show no one for first several years after the split and then all of sudden show off your last two relationships like a new hat, it doesn't make any sense. I think that she is either 1)gay or 2)has a sexual attraction/fetish/niche that isn't socially accepted and would destroy her career. I believe that both relationships were staged to put focus on the fact that she's not weird or anything and that she behaves normally and that she is capable of marriage.

We all knew somebody was gonna say it and this time I guess its me.

[happiholic★]

Originally Posted by hsienko

My personal opinion is that both relationships were stagged. I think Manny was completely staged and I think Maro was only partially staged, I believe they were together in some fashion but to what extent I'm not sure.

I think both of them were staged just for the simple fact that I think she'd been getting flac about not being romantically connected to anyone. I mean the rumors that she is actually a secret lesbian have been going around for a long time and I mean there is hardly ever rumors of her even possibly being connected to someone, I mean why show no one for first several years after the split and then all of sudden show off your last two relationships like a new hat, it doesn't make any sense. I think that she is either 1)gay or 2)has a sexual attraction/fetish/niche that isn't socially accepted and would destroy her career. I believe that both relationships were staged to put focus on the fact that she's not weird or anything and that she behaves normally and that she is capable of marriage.

We all knew somebody was gonna say it and this time I guess its me.

I agree, actually, that parts of her relationships were staged in some part. She may have perhaps loved them, but she allowed them to be pimped out, at the very least. Not that its wrong, I just personally don't care much for it.

She may have a foreigner fetish, at most, to me, however. I think probably because they see her as just a woman, not a popstar, as Japanese men might.

Also, I don't think there is anything wrong with fans' speculation. Obviously none of us have the full story, but we are allowed to come to out own conclusions about what information we were given. Its not hurting anyone. Ayu isn't going to visit AHS.

[BlackSilence]

one thing people forget is that she might be saying only 1% of all the deal...we will never know.

In my mind i will congradulate her with every new love and will send my support if parting comes.
we are quickly to make opinions and judgements, but we have no idea what she's been through. *shrugs*

[waterballoon]

the only reason why I would think the relationships are staged is because of the way she's (like what some' have mentioned) pimping them out.

I mean till this day I really don't understand what was going on in her mind when she decided, "OKAY LET'S PUT MANNIE ON MY PVs" or "MARO MUSZZZZZZZTTTT BE ON MY ALBUM COVER."

like I said sometimes I feel that she feels "indebted" to her friends/lovers, and often the line between "Ayu the musician" and "ayumi hamasaki the person" gets blurred... especially since she's a Libra.

I'd still stand by my opinion that it is a silly and unprofessional thing of her to do... very wrong in my eyes, but hey she's human, not a robot, so what gives, it's human to err.

going by the Twitter thread, IF that caucasian man is really her new beau, then thank God his face isn't plastered all over (yet)... if her next single/album/PV is gonna have this guy's face on it I'm gonna flip cos if there's anything more infuriating than making a mistake, it's not learning/knowing from it and repeating it

[emi♡]

idk his face sure is plastered all over these pictures.


He might not be all in her work, but if they're wanting to keep shit private, they're failing. As per usual it seems now.

Of course, we still don't know who he is for certain.

[waterballoon]

Originally Posted by emi♡

idk his face sure is plastered all over these pictures.


He might not be all in her work, but if they're wanting to keep shit private, they're failing. As per usual it seems now.

Of course, we still don't know who he is for certain.

I don't recall if those were Twitter or TA photos , but at least to me it's her (private) birthday celebration, not the works of another PV or album cover that's all I ask for

[AyUmIXx]

hmm in the end of the day, ayu is just simply a HUMAN, i hope she got her lesson learnt and keep it very low profile with the new boyfriend from now on and get into the real wedding ceremony and live happily ever after with beautiful babies, one day.

[pimenta]

totally agree with Delirium-Zer0's post


I have nothing against Mannie, he seems a nice person and it just happened that him and Ayu had different ideas and weren't fit for each other as a couple, it happens and none of them are guilty.
Maro though... I don't blame him for the divorce thing if he really did consider that as "over" (even if not legally), but after they broke up the way he used that for his own sake and all that ridiculous drama he created like being homeless and eating grass (both which he did just because he wanted to) made me lose my respect for him.

Originally Posted by emi♡

idk his face sure is plastered all over these pictures.


He might not be all in her work, but if they're wanting to keep shit private, they're failing. As per usual it seems now.

Of course, we still don't know who he is for certain.

I think it's ok as long as Ayu doesn't make another big announcement that she has a new boyfriend. For me it's fine if he just start appearing around her in the pics and people naturally start to realize that "oh, that might be her new boyfried... Ok." without any drama or official statements about it. imo people will eventually accept and be used to the fact naturally if it's like that.

[koumori]

Originally Posted by pimenta

I think it's ok as long as Ayu doesn't make another big announcement that she has a new boyfriend. For me it's fine if he just start appearing around her in the pics and people naturally start to realize that "oh, that might be her new boyfried... Ok." without any drama or official statements about it. imo people will eventually accept and be used to the fact naturally if it's like that.

Exactly. I would love Ayu to find someone and be happy, but it doesn't need to be publicised. I think after the awful media mess of her last two relationships she just needs to keep it private and concentrate on enjoying it instead of whatever happened with the last two. As I said in my last post, we'll never know what really happened for her to make the decisions she did to include both Mannie and Maro in her professional works (i.e: Return Road, You & Me etc) but I really hope it doesn't happen again.

Sure, if she wants to include her relationships in future works she's free to do so. I just really hope she doesn't.

[Delirium-Zer0]

Same here. If she's actually dating someone, it stands to reason they'd appear in photos together when they're just out doing whatever they do together. Especially when she's such a high-profile person, and affairs like her birthday are so populated.

Her mistake with Maro was that she came out and said "we're dating." She did it at the time to avoid the tabloids saying "they're dating" first, which I understand, but it was a mistake. And she acknowledges it - I can't really ask for much more than that. I hope she's also learned not to date people she has a professional relationship with, since Maro took advantage the way he did.

As for the use of her significant others in her work, I'm hoping she's learned her lesson about that too... she didn't really have the ability to use Tomoya in her videos & such because he's a Johnny's guy and JE has such strict rules about where their artists' likenesses can be seen. So until 2007 she would have to cast other people (like Shuya, or Shawn Yue, or random barely-visible models) as her love interests in videos & in photo shoots. So since "Virgin Road", when she wanted a love theme, she had a person she was in a relationship with - to her that probably looked obvious. Cast boyfriend as boyfriend, cast husband as husband. It's possible she felt weird playing pretend-lovey-dovey with these guys that weren't her boyfriend in the past, and wanted to go a more "honest" direction, using the real thing. Again, something I understand, but a mistake she didn't learn before but hopefully she's learned it now.

[pimenta]

Originally Posted by Delirium-Zer0

So since "Virgin Road", when she wanted a love theme, she had a person she was in a relationship with - to her that probably looked obvious. Cast boyfriend as boyfriend, cast husband as husband. It's possible she felt weird playing pretend-lovey-dovey with these guys that weren't her boyfriend in the past, and wanted to go a more "honest" direction, using the real thing.

But didn't she fist meet Mannie when they started recording Virgin Road and just after that they started dating? She didn't know him before that. At least that's what I recall reading...

[waterballoon]

goes with my theory that she often blurs the lines between "Ayu the artiste" and "ayumi hamasaki the person"... but I think I might have made the same mistake if I were here, haha. she's so strong to come out alive and well.. must be Timmy!