I don't see anything wrong. You mean the part they are showing the dancers? I think it's just the edit.

lmfao I do not know what kind of ROCK I have been living under the past 18 years but I was today years old when I realized Urata Naoya was one of Ayu's backup dancers in ST2002

No wonder she took him under her wing the way she did when he was branching out and trying to go solo

I think I rewatched Stadium Tour 2002 live fully for the first time in 15 years. and I guess I like it much more now than 15+ years ago.

and I actually really like her casual sports style there! why does it look more stylish now than in 2002??

Yeah for whatever reason editing was weird in 2002... I imagine something was imperfect regarding some recorded performances which explains why they were "bonuses" as opposed to being part of the main thing. Ayu of that time would be that meticulous about some things.

Urata Naoya iirc was in DT01 initially?

That is so weird to me. :shakehead

I think it was due to the scale of the dome and stadium, they had a ton of dancers from an ASAYAN audition or something. I recall that is how he got into the troupe initially and then made friends with Ayu so he was brought back with a few others later on.

The charisma for Stadium Tour is out of this world. She was giving us Britney while still being undeniably Ayu.

Stadium Tour is so good, one of my favorites

It's really amazing to see the amount of growth she experienced from Concert Tour 2000 to Stadium Tour 2002...like in 2 years she literally transformed into a completely different person, in many ways.

Agreed. I also find the transition from Stadium Tour 2002 to CDL02-03 *completely* jarring. She morphed :laugh

Completely!!

Edit: OMG AT2003 is up now and it's so nostalgic!! It was the first full Ayu concert I ever watched (bought a fake copy on one of those anime events back in the days lol). And she looks so stunning during the ourselves and Real me part!! Her face is just angelic <3 I feel like the quality on YouTube is better than the DVD?!

I'm mistaken, it's not depend on you but there's def a glitched in the medley that is present on both the DVD and youtube upload.

It's kinda disappointing that Avex doesn't seem to have a proper archive or process for retaining raw footage/stuff from over the years. If they had, they would have definitely released a $300 collectors edition of new PV edits or "close up version"/"dance version" or something from over the years.

The editing can be off-putting at times but ST02 is just such a great concert. It's very energetic and feels very 'easy', probably due to the open air factor. And I love the fireworks :heart

I think so. I even replaced my dvd rip with it. lol

Was the appears cover considered problematic/blackface when it first came out or is it one of those cultural things that isn't a issue in Japan as they're such a homogenised society?

^the cover never meant to show Ayu as a black woman, it's simply gyaru style, which was very popular in the late 90s

The concept of black face is not known by most of japanese society. You can see people doing it on TV even nowadays and no one says anything.

lol, I had almost forgotten about all of this. Maybe Avex thought by slapping the term bonus on them people would think they were getting something that wasn't always there to begin with...

I don't think the japanese public would consider that problematic even nowadays.

I didn’t know that Ayu wrote the lyric of LIMIT on her first EP nothing from nothing !! It’s a great song to bad she will never acknowledge it lol
It’s interesting because it’s an Urban kind of EP but she stated in interview and in her book that back then she liked rock Music, it’s like the opposite world lol

English translation:]

A lonely girl who has no hope for the reality of life
Stay and hurt each other with a boy, in limited time, who has got his eyes staring at his dream

Just wanna say love, wow, wow... limit lovers
(Just wanna say limit love)

The bright smile of him and his bandana make it feel good, that her closed heart, which has been left in somewhere
Her tears slid down her cheek
His hands are always warm, with his kindness but without decoration: full of feeling with truth
Someday two of them fall in love and stay together and hurt each other in the limited time

Just wanna say love, wow, wow... limit lovers
(Just wanna say limit love)

She couldn't make sure about their love because if she says something loudly, nothing will appear, even the smell...
He says that he, definitely, comes to see her
Even if she realized that it is a white lie, she kept waiting forever, only knowing to believe him
Trying not to realize her sadness in the wind, she dreams about limit love, reading a book, in the non-limited time

Just wanna say love, wow, wow... limit lovers
(Just wanna say limit love)