:laugh

I was brought up with UK English in here since young which explains so

I know the Americans write certain words differently , like color instead of colour (which I will write it as so)

anyway hmm LUCKY☆STAR is a grower , nothing fantastic to me as of now D: but I hope I will be proven wrong on this soon

Ah yes, I just can't write using American English other than the -ize ending but only because Oxford prefers that ending. XD

I'm really loving LUCKY STAR...got it on repeat. :love:love

Hey everyone, I was wondering if anyone could help me with my question.

Was there a first press for the Love Letter Premium Box? I was also wondering if the letter is included in every box? I'm guessng it's a printed letter?

are you talking about this ? -> http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/detailview.html?KEY=AVBD-91727

you can read the description of the item in that link & I saw it being sold here too at HMV

initally I didn't know what's that but when I saw it , I thought oh cool that they packaged the DVD in this manner

What I absolutely love about Lucky Star is that it's not like the more mature adult style of Love Letter but it's not exactly like her older, crazy happy pop songs, but right in between and I like that.

^^ Yeah, that's what I meant :yes I already ordered it from YesAsia, but I just wondered after. It arrived today and came with the letter :D

The box isn't like how I thought it would be, but it's still a lovely item, and I'm realy happy it's my first Aichan item :D

The box is about the size of a 2CD + DVD edition of an album, and each of the DVDs are i slip cases. I didn't realise the bonus disc was another concert, so that's awesome! :D

some sources mentioned that LUCKY☆STAR will be released as a single in Feb

but I don't know it's like a bit too late if you ask me , I say at most early march ?

The Winter Olympics will be held on February 12th-28th btw

yes please!! a new single means a new album and a new album means she's not retiring ^_^

Oh, by the way, does anyone know who are her special thanks to in the LOVE JAM credits? It's written in Japanese and I only get that she thanks her friends and her two rabbits, but I would like to know what she says.

And also, does anyone know of nice interviews of her? I've read some in Channel Ai, there are a bunch of them in a very cool format:

http://www.channel-ai.com/blog/tag/ai-otsuka/

i reeeeeally hope she'll release LUCKY STAR in february. :D

Very soon for a new single, maybe in march

yes, i can't wait for the single myself too!
i hope that the covers are not like RS/OxT covers... :/ they're not my favourite.

something like PECH/HEART wcovers would be nice :)

I just got back from vacation and just heard LUCKY STAR and I think it's pretty good. :) I don't really think it's the type of song I'd want for the Olympics, but you can just tell by the background music that it's going to have some crazy plot-line PV with it. LOL. I'm more excited for that. :yes

I watched the Yokohama Arena Tour earlier, and thought it was amazing :D It'll definately be getting another watch soon :yes

There's quite a bit of drag going on, aha, I loved it! Especially in Shachihata, I couldn't stop laughing!

i love LUCKSTAR! even my little brother want that song for his ringtone! XD~ can't wait for her new single with unique style~

hmm i know im not usually here but should i download LUCKY STAR ?
wanna go back being an ai fan again :)
and the other songs i missed since her first album XD

I don't know because frankly you're not missing out on anything if you didn't download the song

I tried listening to it a few more times & I still cannot remember how it sounds like , it's that BAD to me

^ well, im confused XD
ok so i wathched her Bye Bye PV randomly n i like it n feels like going back to be her fan
maybe u guys can reccomend me some good songs ?

Which songs do you prefer, the ballad like or more fun ones?

More upbeat

- H2O, a b-side to the last single she released in 2008, Kurage, Nagareboshi, is amazing!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnweDX781yI

- Chu-Lip (PV in link)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HslrKSh2iA

Ballads

Daisuki da yo. (PV in link)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGDucWFLKno

Kimi ni Kaeru
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9zoy2I60WQ

Ningyou
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3Ae54FSrzA

Kurage, Nagareboshi (PV in link)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ugjhQz4r_U

They are some of my personal favourites :)

okay thanks :)

Mmmmm i like songs like SMILY, Peach and Sakuranbo, are really happy ^0^
But ballads like Kingyo Hanabi, Planetarium and Kurage Nagareboshi are so beautiful

LUCKY STAR is being released on 2/10? i just saw it on JPM :P

^yay :) the same day as Momusu's new single.

^i think she will beaten by momusu...

i think Otsuka Ai & Morning Musume will both be beaten by KAT-TUN. lol. :3

i heard "LUCKY STAR" because i was bored, but i like it! it's pretty catchy, but i think i'll need to repeat the song to remember it more. can't wait for the PV. :)

Why are they putting her in competition with KAT-TUN? Is avex stupid or what?

I think she is going to eat MoMusu tho. The girls are so meh this generation.

guess we don't need to worry about competition..it'll just be released digitally :grumpy

http://www.avexnet.or.jp/ai/news/100112.html

Because she doesn't get #1 singles all that often? And because the chances of her getting a #1 ever again are really slim anyways? So she's not exactly one of their artists they have to find strategic release dates for...

LOL

might as well because I think physical wise , it will tanked horribly as I find the song really boring :no

Oh only a digital release
Well, i want a real single then

HUH?! digital single?

it's frankly wise for her to release LUCKY STAR as a digital single on 10th Feb as her last few singles , the sales weren't impressive & KAT-TUN's going to dominate the single sales for that week as they will be putting out Love yourself ~ Kimi ga Kirai na Kimi ga Suki~ on 10th Feb too

Oh.. I wanted a new single with a b-side and stuff. She's way overdue for one.

^HAHAHAHA

Hey, LOVE LETTER didn't sell that bad.

Bye Bye was a recut single and LOVE is BEST didn't have much selling value, apart from Is. (and they gave her budget for the PV and covers, and promoted it heavily, so avex is not ignoring her.)

What she needs is a good tie-in, like Hana Yori Dango back in the day. She is been really active on commercials during the LOVE LETTER era, which confirms that she's very loved and credible for the Japanese public. It's just that musically, it's been a while since she had a hit (what was her last "big" hit? CHU-LIP or PEACH maybe?)

I think she needs to get inspiration and new ideas, which is what I guess she's been doing this time, but LOVE LETTER was quite a solid album, just not as mainstream as say, LOVE COOK.

To a smaller scale, I think her career has had some similarities with Utada Hikaru. Both write all of their stuff, are very talented and loved by the Japanese (I mean as celebrities). Both released a string of good albums with a certain style that were blockbusters until they release something different, or more creative/experimental (Hikki's ULTRA BLUE or HEART STATION and Ai's LOVE LETTER.), which also sells good for their standards, and then go on hiatus to get fresh ideas.

Normal proccess, I guess.

^that's true.
ai's older stuff is really great and from her 2008/2009 singles KN is so good :yes

In two years, 3 singles:
[2008.05.21] Rocket Sneaker / One×Time
[2008.09.10] Kurage, Nagareboshi
[2009.02.25] Bye Bye

I love each one

i loved rocket sneaker the best :love

Rocket Sneaker rocks!! And I love the PV, so original.

Kurage, Nagareboshi is very nice, but its lyrics are probably my least favorite from her ballads, it just didn't reach me. And I think she was going for another Planetarium or Kingyo Hanabi there, so it felt a little bit forced imo. Still is a great composition with a powerful chorus.

Bye Bye is awesome, and so it's the PV, but I never got into OnexTime... not even the LOVE is BEST version, I just didn't think it should had been a single. Kimi Fechi or Creamy & Spicy would have made a much better A-Side with Rocket Sneaker, imo.

She needs to pop out another Kingyo Hanabi. A beautifully composed and arranged song with catchy but deep lyrics with an amazing cover and PV.

This!! That's my fav ai song/single.

I love that PV ^o^

okay..i know this is confusing, but i think someone translated the song info wrong on ai's website. it'll be released digitally (meaning you can download it) on 2/10, but the physical release is not determined...yet. so, i guess it's just not being released yet? i honestly don't know anymore, lol.

-_-'''

usually if a single's released digitally , that already assumed that it will be not released in a physical CD anymore

you look at flumpool's Hana ni Nare , Mitsumetetai , Frame . They were all released digitally but no physical CDs came along with it

i know, i also assumed that digital download meant digital single. but then i read that "physical release is not determined yet". so there could still be hope that it'll be released as a single later on, maybe in the spring? who knows, lol. but for now you can just download it on february 10.

that PV was a copy from a PV of Yuki ._.

the concept of the PV was done other times, too. not just with YUKI. :yes take GIRL NEXT DOOR's "Be your wings" PV for example.

idk if these were posted, I just found out about them today.. but I guess she copied or was inspired by all of these? I had no idea.

^ There's a LOT more than just those too. Like planetarium being a copy of suteki dane is just dumb, but there is some uhh... Mr. Children song I think that sounds EXACTLY like it.

Yeah, I've kind of never believed since then that her songs were all "original". :<

Edit: Oh, I found the site that had all of them on it... http://www.geocities.jp/akiyama102k/

The song I was thinking of is actually that song by Sawai Yuusuke, it's like the 9th song. But the Mr. Children one sounds a lot like Planetarium, too.

^ :( ughh I don't want to believe this. this is making me so sad. this is almost ruining some of my favorite ai songs for me, now they just seem so cheap and not as special. :( I could cry omg.

^just forget about it. Ai's songs are anyway waaaaay better that those that she "copied". Just consider them as songs that got an inspiration from other songs. It's not that uncommon. Who cares anyways?

That's true that they're better. I care because I always thought of her as someone who was original with her music, not someone who ripped off ideas from other people. I always had more respect for her over other artists because of that.

Those videos were plain stupid.

Ai stated once that Planetarium was kind of a tribute to Rikki's songs, because she loved them a lot, and its certain that they sound similar, but they are still very different.

SMILY and Neko ni Fuusen don't sound similar at all, and it's more obvious when played bit by bit. Just the first comparison of Neko ni Fuusen sounds similar, and to be honest, it's a very simple melody.

Ai does very typical Japanese Pop, and it's normal that the melodies are very simple and typical for the genre, no wonder they sound similar.

Also, I think it was until LOVE COOK-LOVE PiECE that she started composing specifically for her albums, since the first albums (specially LOVE PUNCH and LOVE JAM) simply used tracks she had composed and written during her teenage years, before being part of Avex (remember that Daisuki Dayo. was her demo tape, and Sakuranbo was first recorded by her teenage band, HimaWari). It's normal that she just got inspired by what she used to listen in her teenage years.
Still, I don't think any of those songs are copies. Avex has "copied" a lot of songs before and they aren't usually that subtle, if not look at Koda Kumi's recent discography, the instrumentals are even the same, and same for many lyrics which just get translated from english to japanese XD

And I hope LUCKY STAR gets a physical release, but later.

OMG THE FRIEND/SMILY ONE--THAAATT'S THE ONE I was trying to figure out for my covers/samples thread!! So.... It really is just a rip-off, lol..? And there's others?? :( Ah well... I still love you, Ai-chin! D':

well, i like ai otsuka and thats all i care
but i hate avex

I find it kind of sad how...
The people here who are basically saying "it's okay if Ai ripped off other people's songs" are probably the same people who would be freaking out if someone ripped off Ai (or anyone else they liked). It's not okay to plagiarize, and the thing is, there are just way too many similarities between Ai's songs and other people's songs for it to just be some vaaague coincidence. I mean I really do hate to accuse Ai of plagiarizing, but it's not like half of Utada Hikaru's songs sound like they directly ripped off someone else's melody. :<

^ I don't think it's okay, at all... But some of the songs listed only have a few similar notes (like Neko ni Fuusen or Strawberry Jam), so I don't care. I would never confuse most of those. It's easy to find two pop songs that have a few similar aspects. And the others, well... We don't know the whole story, so I'm not automatically gonna start hating Ai. But it is disappointing, whatever the reason...

Dude, the Sakuranbo one is EXACTLY. THE FREAKIN'. SAME.... So it MUST be a cover............. But, who are the two girls who sang the "other" version..?? I see it says "西田真田"... Nishida Sanada? Saida Shinda?? Who are they--anybody know???? D:

^ It's Ai lol. She was in a duo with her friend before she debuted. It was called himawari or something. So that "sakuranbo" thing is actually Ai's song, that she covered later when she debuted solo.

Oh, well, then..... Nevermind. XD (I assume it said on that page, but I'm honestly too lazy to translate. Sorry. >_>') Well.... The only song I have a problem with, then, is the same that's always made me very suspicious: SMILY. :mad

LOL I LIKE HOW IN THE PLANETARIUM ONE IT WAS LIKE, ONLY 5 SECONDS. Because 5 Seconds of the same melody = PLAGIARISM

^ Yeah, planetarium sounds nothing like suteki dane. It does however sound just like shiawase wa kumo no ue ni by Sawai Yuusuke.

I just have to say that for Planetarium, it sounds similar to other songs cos this song was sort of composed similar to traditional Japanese pop-songs right? I mean in all sorts of genres of music, there's a certain pattern to compose so that the songs actually sound that way, or that's what I think.

The SMILY/Friends one was just @_@ omg... Ai has been naughty.

An advertising feature for adidas here. Photos from the website:

http://img687.imageshack.us/img687/4111/homefw.th.jpg http://img204.imageshack.us/img204/2886/page01l.th.jpg http://img204.imageshack.us/img204/6766/page02o.th.jpg http://img204.imageshack.us/img204/6136/page03g.th.jpg http://img204.imageshack.us/img204/7074/page04j.th.jpg http://img696.imageshack.us/img696/7903/page05.th.jpg http://img696.imageshack.us/img696/7928/page06.th.jpg

another DVD....:P

Ahhhh, why?? i want a new single (a real single)

oh and there's even a blue-ray too ;o
and same thing to me, i really want a new single more than a new dvd...

all right Ai is officially a DVD-releasing artiste than anything. :P

Blu-ray again? That's really interesting again! It seems like that she releases a lot of DVDs here...

LOL :laugh

大塚 愛 【LOVE IS BORN】~6th Anniversary 2009~ 2010/3/24 發售決定!

release on March 24th, a new DVD of Otsuka Ai titled 【LOVE IS BORN】~6th Anniversary 2009~at Hibiya-Yagai Ongaku-Do on 12th of September 2009.

(Otsuka Ai – 【LOVE IS BORN】~6th Anniversary 2009~ Regular Edition)

http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/detailview.html?KEY=AVBD-91761

you know , can't she stop putting the word anniversary in her DVD ? it's not like anyone's going to bother if this keeps up :o

^ The 【LOVE IS BORN】 concerts celebrate the anniversary of her debut, back in 2003. Hence the word "anniversary". :yrolleyes The concerts are eagerly looked forward to by her fans and always sell out immediately. The DVDs record these special events, especially for those unable to attend.

I don't think you are qualified to speak on behalf of "anyone".

Celebrating a sixth anniversary is kinda whack. :\

I agree with you in a way or 2

celebrating a 5th anniversary & a 10th anniversary seems logical & make more sense

I wonder if by putting out an anniversary DVD in her case hurt the sales of Kurage Nagareboshi at that time as it was released to celebrate her 5th anniversary in the business

I honestly thought it might sell well but obviously that didn't happened

from JPM.

Adidas pictures = pure sex.

She loves the Momo no Hanabira pose, a.k.a. in the picture in white with the hat XD

I agree, there's like no reason to celebrate EVERY SINGLE year in your career as your "anniversary"... It kind of makes her seem full of herself to me. :yawn But maybe that's just me.

Aw, she looks really beautiful in the adidas ads. :yes *saves*

Maybe you are right. Maybe it is just you. :P Would you be happier if they were called "The September Concerts"? "Anniversary" is an accurate description. It could be a marketing thing to give them extra significance. The concert series is actually called "LOVE IS BORN" because they also coincide with her birthday. But you may think calling them birthday concerts would kind of make her seem full of herself as well. Someone said "You cannot please all of the people all of the time". (Too lazy to look it up.)

Oh no, God forbid anyone say anything against Otsuka Ai.

For your information, I would have no problem with her calling them birthday concerts. :rolleyes The word "anniversary" makes it sound like she thinks her music career is God's gift to Japan.

^ What he said. She could just name them in a better way...like "A LOVE LETTER TO YOU -LOVE is BORN- Concert 10'-" or something

^ I have nothing against the word tbh. Just she uses it quite frequently. But eh, whatever. It's her word choice not mine.

The thing with the "anniversary" is that... when you say something like "10th anniversary", it really should be something BIG you know. now she just throws "anniversary" on ever cover... it WILL lessen the impact of say, her 10th anniversary. not a very good move imo...

and the Adidas photos are lovely. :)

^ I agree waterballoon. I have nothing against the word "anniversary", but she uses it too often. So when her 10th anniversary comes around it's gonna be like, so what? :shrug She's already had 1039502190 other anniversaries, so her 10th doesn't matter that much.

And my parents haven't been married since I was five, so they don't celebrate wedding anniversaries. ;)

yeah her 10th anniversary wouldn't be as impactful as say Ayu or Kuu's cos every year she has an "anniversary" like lol... it's just not really sensible but avex always had weird advertising/marketing strategies anyway

nods head on what Jun Xiang said

to me usually I associate the word Anniversary with something special . For her , it seems that she uses it quite often/freely which kinda downgraded the significance of the word

anyway who am I to judge ? :dead2

I think that if it was in celebration with an important birthday then sure, anniversary would be acceptable. But If it's celebrating a sixth year, then that's just odd.

that's true

you don't often see artistes putting a 1st/2nd/3rd/4th/5th/6th anniversary tag against their DVDs other than her

There might be other artistes that does that but I don't know for that

I think she needs to work on her modeling, all of her faces look the same and she just looks so bored and lifeless, even just a slight smile would be nice!

about the anniversary thing.. I really don't care, as long as the concert is good :/ It's not a big deal and I don't think it makes her seem full of herself or anything.

new single by Ai to be released soon

posted by livedoor

those addidas pictures are cool! :)

but omg new single! (i see aiko, UVERworld, TMR, and SCANDAL, too!) :D

So a real new single? A really real one?!

aiko, SCANDAL, UVERworld an Ai Otsuka!!!!
yay!!

maybe yes maybe no

sometimes the info that livedoor post on their site might not be accurate so :shrug

oh u_u, it's just a rumor

It's possible it'll be true, but let's not get our hopes up.

lol I already have LUCKY☆STAR in my mp3player for a while now

I'm still not impressed with it , she has better upbeat songs than this so it's for the best that it's released digitally & not physically

anyway I found this on avex taiwan's website

http://shopping.avex.com.tw/avex/Def...l&ItemId=1969#

that's 2 B2 sized posters for her 【LOVE IS BORN】 ～6th Anniversary 2009～ gig

I really like the 1st pic more than the 2nd one

Karen I saw those! I actually wanted the first one because it's so cute but they came in a set and I really don't like the other one.

Drama/fights in an ai otsuka thread is making me laugh, I guess because it's so rare. :laugh

i haven't really looked through this thread so sorry if it's been talked about but, she's releasing a new single Lucky Star right?
but i remember a few months ago, when she was on tour, there was a new song she performed and everyone said it was most likely the next single release. whatever happened with that? (sorry, i haven't been up to date with my ai-chin news. >_<)

lol yeah I seldom see drama going on in here

too bad the posters come in a set , I will go for the 1st one immediately at no question asked

they put on her website that LUCKY STAR will be released digitally on 10th Feb

so I assumed that it will not be released physically