I very much doubt that what overseas fans think will affect how the release does in Japan. At the moment, both the limited edition and CD+DVD are in the top 15 on Amazon.co.jp (#7 and #13 respectively) which is pretty good considering the releases ahead of her are like... AKB / Masaharu Fukuyama.

I would say that this so called negative judgement of the mini album is about the norm for Ayu releases. Love songs and Rock'n'Roll Circus were received surprisingly well I thought, with few people hailing that they were the worst albums of her career. It's interesting how different opinions can vary, but for now I think it's a mix of being desperate for new Ayu and not getting what you might want to hear from her.

I think that the insertion of collaborations into this album sort of ruined the 'groove' of FIVE. beloved and progress are both so very much Ayu-ish songs that I think if they had not included Why... and ANother song, she probably would have had a much stronger mini-album in people's eyes. But since essentially half of the album is made up of collabs and almost every track is of a 'medium' feel, it doesn't really feel right.

As for 'fierce', if you think about this as a 5A-side (which would be classified as a mini album in Japan anyway), it's pretty well balanced at the moment with one fierce/powerful track and a few other genres mixed in there (mostly ballad/midtempo though). If she were doing a full album, I think we would've probably seen some more upbeat tracks mixed in. Personally, I would've liked to see a summery track on the album but I'm happy with what we have so far because I know that eventually she is going to do something upbeat, so why be disappointed that it isn't here right now?

But I don't see how Ayu could be forced to release this at this time. I think avex would have been plenty happy with a single - we haven't had any between Love songs and FIVE at all! With Leslie calling FIVE "a new revolution" and so on, to me this seems like Ayu stand behind this product 100%, just like all of her other releases. I could see them forcing her to release something if it had been a LONG time since her last release, but this is the quickest we have ever received an "album" ... I don't know but we all know Seiko used to sell trillions (lol) and look at her now. I guess all good things must come to an end and we must accept the fact that things change.

I do not mean to sound negative or whatever, I'm just speaking my mind on this matter and how I believe Ayu's career will be affected because of this release.
Those releases were, for the most part, at least something FRESH. I guess this release still has that "something different" than Ayu's past works thing going for it but not in a good way. NEXT LEVEL was foreshadowed as a new chapter. new excitement. the "NEXT LEVEL". That both worked in favor and against it as a release. Sunrise/Sunset was just a single to begin with and although Sunset was a little boring, Sunrise was just as exciting as a Summer single can get. Mirrorcle World's PV was a disappointment but hey the song more than made up for it. And B&D, that was the single before an album (that turned out to be great) and Ayu made up for it with releases before and after. This is almost 6 years later, she cannot afford that kind of disappointment.

Well, maybe I'm just trying to not lose all hope for Ayu's future releases, lol. But I really haven't been getting the impression that this is a release she REALLY cares about. In all honestly, this release seems to me like Ayu just doesn't want to start a new era yet because she wants to perform HOTEL Love songs, but she has to release SOMETHING this year because of her contractual obligations or w/e. So she just pulled out a few Love songs rejects and threw in ANother song (which to me, sounds like a reject from the Dream ON single to begin with) and maybe BRILLANTE. I mean, in my opinion if she was really behind this, it would be more polished overall. I mean how could no one who was producing ANother song notice that the synth isn't even in sync with the rest of the song. The synth track that is playing through practically the whole song. IS NOT IN SYNC WITH ANYTHING ELSE. That's just unforgivable for me, and it is in part what makes me feel like she dgaf about FIVE. Of course I may be tooootally off here, but that's just the impression I've been getting. But I hope that I'm right because at least it would give me hope that her future songs will not be this horridly produced. :'(

You are talking as though Ayu is doing terribly though... she is still selling better than most acts out there save for anyone who is the flavor of the week at the moment. Other than Ayu, the only other artist from her era doing as well is Namie. Sales as a whole minus AKB/some groups have been pretty bad nowadays with 100k-200k (if that) becoming "good sales" with exception of AKB, of course. (I still don't understand that phenomenon, haha.)

I would say that the main reason for the looooooooooong delay was Tales of Xillia. avex probably wanted progress to be the first thing out after Love songs, but since the game wasn't coming out until late September, about nine months after Ayu was announced to be attached to the project... this ended up being what we got. The earthquake in March might have also played a part in it as well.

I've always felt this way too when people bring up Ayu's sales. I think "who the Hell IS selling better than her?" because I always see her releases come out on top even in the yearly reports. But we have yet to see the sales for FIVE and I am just bracing myself and think others should do the same.

I think FIVE will probably end up selling more than say, L or crossroad, but it probably will not be able to sell 200k+.

The fact that it's all 100% "new" is pretty nice, but I think they should have probably lowered the price point since you're paying the same price for less than half the usual material you get for ~3000 yen+.

We might see a bit higher sales than we normally would because of AAA, JUNO, and Tales of Xillia though. It's interesting how the edition with the special ToX costume has been the best selling version for the last two months.

I just think people are being too overdramatic...

AHS opinion about Ayu releases almost always differ totally to general japanese public opinion... People over there tend to love the same tracks we bash over here... Face it, saying that AHS is responsable for 10k copies sold is being naive, I wouldn't be surprised if people over here together buy less than 1000 copies of her releases...

and @Zeke., I know u can have your own opinion, but shouldn't you wait to listen to the tracks before getting in panic? x________________x Besides Tom Punks I don't see anyone really hating it more than usual... (and I'm not saying is wrong for Tom to hate it)

Well I'm going by everyone else's opinions. My single opinion will not change the success of this release. I hope I do like this release though...

I think the only bad thing about this release is that there isn't the variety that is normally there that we have with a full album, so the 'hate' seems magnified.

Memorial address had help with having & and two ballads before it was released. Perfect balance, I think. Without any singles though, this release does seem to pale in comparison. (2 pop/2 alternative/4 ballads vs. 3 medium tracks/1 pop-rock/1 ballad)

How much of the clip you have seen? I don't think, she will not be in the clip. Maybee not in the part you saw.
In vivi-Preview we saw her making the clip!

Ayu wasn't in endless sorrow and it's one of her best pvs ever <3

I like the new songs, but they aren't good or mind-blowing by ayu standards, she could do so much better.

I put my money on BRILLIANTE, but not really, if it's going to be another drag queen inspired pv, hopefully it isn't too trashy. Oh well, as long as the song turns out amazing.

Sales are important but while I gey emotional with Ayu´s song I will be her fan...n__n

I expect BRILLIANTE to be the second INSPIRE
please please please :P

I am not expecting anything from BRILLANTE. Of course I hope it's good, but I'm not placing my bets on it. From the sound of it, BRILLANTE has a lot to live up to.

better if you don't, so you don't feel even more disappointed.

I think from what they've said about BRILLANTE, it will probably have a medium epic sound like do it again did? That's what I think of when I read 'movie soundtrack' anyway.

It's kind of awesome that we're gonna be getting 5 new PVs next week~ I want to see previews nowwww~

^^ yeah I know

but I just want to hope for something lol
let it be at least WELL-PRODUCED song with a decent arrangement and memoramble melody.

lol yeah, I just feel the bland feeling of this album was almost intentional, I don't know if they are bringing it down so the kids can jump on it or something :P (kids= urata, juno)

I'm just surprised people are complaining so much about this release when they didn't complain about the last 2 years of her career....tbh. Everything since Mirrorcle World seemed to be some half finished thought that could have been a hit, but was rushed to generate sales or make convenient release dates. In the end, FIVE is going to fulfill its inherent purpose anyway, which is to grant her another #1 mini-album and satisfy a release deprived fanbase. Just be happy she didn't retire yet.