Btw, on the book it is acknowledged that she was singing before meeting Max. She mentions she is releasing the album (nothing from nothing) on the supposed first meet at the disco.
Idk, while the book seems targeted to a more mature audience the drama looks like the complete opposite.

This and this.

Kalen's lack of acting skills really don't help. I think what makes it more difficult is that she doesn't feel like ayu at all, and it seems her character just wasn't written that way. She trudges through the lines, but her as ayu is one of the least compelling characters. Whenever they reenact the lives, she looks dead. Like I don't understand lol.

Anyway, I'm also not a fan of the way they center Masa. Romance-wise, I get it, but the way ayu is depicted in comparison is sad.

I do think ayu's story is dark and interesting enough to have a compelling serious show. But thats not what they were going for here of course. Shame though, would've been cool

In the meantime, I'll be interested to see where they go with this. It's still fun to watch as a fan, so I look forward to new episodes weekly.

It's a pretty fun drama to watch though. without putting the real ayu in picture. May i check with you guys, that the girls who bullied ayu before ayu debuted, is it something that happened in real life? I guess ayu have never mentioned it explicitly rite?

In the book, Ayu describes the girls as gossips at the Avex camp she attended after returning from New York. The breaking of the shoulder, tripping and everything else is just a dramatisation — as a result of the made up Masa assistant character.

The script was embellished a lot to make it more of a drama. Some characters were probably also created because of that general notion from promoters/TV execs/etc. The book itself was already sort of "what is truth? what is fiction?" and then the drama got a lot of free rein on things to add to keep things 'interesting'. I think the guy who wrote the script is normally a comedian that sometimes produces/writes for dramas or other TV programs.

The little information I got on this is that Avex training is not that intense/in-depth. Years ago a documentary of Avex group Dream was aired. Some of the topics of it was the intense training they have to do after 7 years of performing with Avex to debut with the new agency LDH. At the time of re-debuting with LDH they noticed that even if they were experienced performers they lacked the abilities to do so. They even pointed a certain member who at time of re-debuting had null dancing ability. They showed video footage and it was pretty funny.

Because of Corona, they can't continue the shooting for the dorama so, apparently, it will be stopped for a while.

Even if this does help put Max in a good light, wouldn't it also be in line with how japanese "hero" narratives usually works?

In the sense that western narrative usually presents someone with big inherent powers (or talents, in this case) they must learn to use, while japanese narratives usually presents how people develop such powers/talents through hard work and resiliance?

I’ve been reading about the Japanese word “べき (beki)”, as in the context of ayus lyrics for M, I always felt it held a nuanced weight. In Japanese you’re taught it means “should” but in this case it feels awkward to translate it as such. I started reading this breakdown https://goiryoku.net/subeki-surubeki, and as I was doing so, I got the sense it can correlate with having somewhat of a sense of duty of doing something. Sure enough, it does point that nuance out as a use case and provides and example.

I think the word “reverence” really captures this best, but also “allegiance” “responsibility” and “obligation.”

I think this is very interesting because it explains why Ayu is wearing a wedding dress in the video and single cover, and also why she performs it in a wedding dress. Becoming a bride, getting married, it represents a vow - a duty one thereafter feels they have a responsibility to uphold (a duty they accepted and agreed to). Also consider the fact that MARIA represents Mother Mary, who was chosen by God to deliver Christ unto the Earth, who as a result must have held an immense sense of revere for God in choosing her.

This makes complete sense in the context of Max, as it is to him she owes her rise to fame (not saying she didn’t have talent, but it took HIM and his belief in her to get the world to see that). I think she recognizes that, and it’s no surprise the way she interpreted thanking him was through loving him.

“M—there’s someone I love reverently...”
“M—having someone I am devout in loving....”

I don't remember where it was, but I'm pretty sure in an article or interview she said it was Mary Magdalene, not Mother Mary.

Episode 2 was a bit slow :( looking forward to Episode 3!

edit: wow Episode 3 looks so good so far! waiting for the subs :D

Episode 3 with subs is out!
https://blitzfansub.com/m-ai-subeki-...ite-episode-3/

The third episode was a lot more cringy to watch imo, why does Kalen makes Ayu look and sound so stupid?

This episode was MEH for me but nice to hear the full version of We Can't Stop This - the verses are sooo good and classic J-pop.

the bit where the lyrics for ASFXX flew out from the page...lol x

Honestly, I thought Kalen was a tad better and had a bit more fire that I'm used to seeing from Ayu. Glad to see she's improving. And although I don't give Max all the credit for Ayu's success, it's hard to imagine what her career would have looked like without him behind her.

I'm curious! Does anyone know if A Song for XX was really the first song Ayu wrote? It's hard to know when the drama mixes real events and fiction so easily...

^ on the book it is presented as so

I think Ayu said before Friend is the first song she wrote before her debut but we know that even Ayu herself is a bit of a history revisionist.

When it comes down to it, the very first song she wrote is LIMIT in 1995 but of course that's pre-avex...