Then don't be surprised to the announcement of M ~episode II~

Episode 6: https://blitzfansub.com/m-ai-subeki-...ite-episode-6/

Kalen's acting was so much better during this episode imo :yes can't believe it's ending next week, this was far from being a perfect show but I'm gonna miss it, it was nice to see something related to Ayu each week, and also I'm translating it to spanish so it was pretty fun to work on it :P

REIKA is my favorite character here, it´s just soo funny how when she appeares the nice music suddenly stops :D I need to watch the spin-off.

Everything speeded up so sudden :(

Gosh I still can’t stand Reika!

The drama was being quite accurate regarding key dates in Ayu's career (singles and albums releases, interviews, etc.) but they just had to screw it up in ep. 6 saying she won the Japan Record Award in 1999. It's true that Boys & Girls was nominated, but she didn't manage to win until 2001!

^ Yep, she was even dressed with the Japan Record Award 2001 outfit lol

Also, I think that Ayu and Max broke up in late 1999 but this is not the case during this episode.

I'm impressed they placed a home identical to Ayu's real home at that time.

Her acting her improved, even so when you consider it must have been a big challenge for Kalen to act out success and having hit after hit.

I did laugh when Mari said "I plan to go abroad to study dance" which has to be the biggest Jpop cliche on Wikipedia articles of disbanded/inactive idols from around that time.

I did like her screen presence overall. The acting is limited and she struggles on some scenes, but it's not the worst. Hwr stage presence is BAD.

The boys & girls performance is BAD. She just stands there stuck to the ground. No wonder Avex doesn't allow her to do live performances :irked

Isn't it odd how AXELS' and Ayu's 2nd single were released together but both placed #20 on Oricon Chart?

Mte. She looked so dead on stage, it's unbelievable lmao.

Reika's scene in Masa's home with the drums was honestly the best of the whole series for me. HILARIOUS. I really can't wait for the spin off - such a stupid funny character.

Maybe they kept saying she was a hologram as a way of putting something more suited for a performance in her place. :B

Years ago, I was told by someone who works at a Japanese fashion brand (he was high up in the company) that Ayu was very much bullied by Yuki from TRF and hitomi. If what he said was true, I wonder if they used Axel’s to display this? To my knowledge, there was no girl group at the time that could’ve really been able to do that. I know the story doesn’t fit this, as TRF and Hitomi were already a success, but the bullying could be inspired by this?

Assuming what the person I met told me was true, of course. They probably couldn’t show the actions of real artists. He also said Ayu was using a ghost-writer for her lyrics, though, so I suppose it’s best to take it with a grain of salt. Lol.

Wasn't MAX pretty huge at the time of Ayu's debut? Not to say that they did it or anything, but they come to mind as a popular avex girl group and "Axel's" could come from MAX -> LAX -> AXL and somewhat fits their weird renamed OTF/Over The Fact/ELT/Every Little Thing, usg/TRF scheme. Especially the TRF one since it just uses the letters after "TRF" to make "USG". The other group I saw as a guess was SPEED but they don't really fit the name as well as MAX.

I am sure Ayu was bullied by TV execs and stuff but some of those other artists? She seemed on good terms with Yuki whenever they did have to interact but with regard to hitomi, the 'rumor' maybe came from when hitomi herself actually did comment a bit about Ayu on a talk show and it seems they were not close at all or the relationship was very distant/delicate?

https://news.livedoor.com/article/detail/10910455/

It's not the first time I hear such rumours. I wouldn't rule that out completely.

lol this reminds me of this news article that reads more like fanfiction
Despite being constantly viewed as rivals, hitomi shares a close friendship with fellow Avex performer Ayumi Hamasaki, the reigning queen of Japanese pop, which dates back to 2000. The two often get together during breaks in TV performances (like the NHK Red And White Song Festivals), and Hamasaki often goes on joyrides with hitomi through hitomi's native Kanagawa countryside, where Hamasaki often enjoys a certain degree of anonymity, either in a car or on motorbike (hitomi is qualified to drive both, while Hamasaki is not allowed to possess any driving licenses because she suffers from a form of night blindness). Hamasaki attended hitomi's wedding, as well as a family function to celebrate the first month of the birth of hitomi's twin children (a ceremony known as the 'Full Moon Celebration'), and is an unofficial 'godmother' to hitomi's children, Toru and Sumire. hitomi and Hamasaki had attempted in the past to write songs together, but the results were unsatisfactory because the two women have very different musical inclinations and directions. Interestingly, it was hitomi's ideas that led to the popular pre-concert video segments in Hamasaki's 'My Story Concert Tour' in 2005, and Hamasaki has often credited hitomi as 'the director ahead of the director'. Also, both hitomi and Hamasaki are Christians, a religious group that is in the minority in Japan where Shinto and Buddhism are dominant.


hitomi owns an expensive Spanish-made classical guitar, which was a gift from Hamasaki. Hamasaki had, apparently inspired by reading the novel The Master Of Go by Yasunari Kawabata, challenged hitomi to a game of Go, of which she was usually the superior player. If Hamasaki won, hitomi would have to buy her a German-made piano that had caught Hamasaki's fancy; hitomi did not specify Hamasaki's forfeit. hitomi won the game, but bought Hamasaki the piano anyway. Two months later, hitomi and Hamasaki were surfing the Internet when hitomi expressed a fondness for a classical guitar. Hamasaki bought the guitar immediately and gave it to hitomi, who now rarely goes two days without playing at least one full-length piece on it.

Along these lines though..I was thinking, it's weird that there isn't conflict in the drama from other solo females like a Utada or Namie character. I guess the character who is suppose to be TK covers that?

I looked for it and I found that it could be a group called MISSION. They debuted more or less at the same time than Ayu and only released 4 singles.

https://akitakaoru.com/2020/06/14/m-axels/
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/MISSION_(アイドルグループ)

In the first website they compare the oricon ranking and they pretty match with the dorama so it could be possible. I don't know if they bullied Ayu in real life but they last like a year so... karma is a bitch :roflmao

Omg it has to be them :0
They even have the one with the short hair

It looks super possible! Thanks for finding that!

Noooo not hitomi. She is my favorite J-Pop artist after Ayu. What did she say about Ayu on a talk show? While we never know what goes on behind closed doors, Yuki seemed to always be ultra supportive of Ayu and her and TRF collaborated alot. But who knows, maybe they decided to be nice after she was successful lol It is interesting to note though that hitomi never did AYUREADY?

^ I personally never believed the guy that told me, seeing it in the drama just made me remember it haha.

Ayu-ready runned from late 2002 to early 2004... Hitomi wasn't much active during this time.^^

hitomi discovered and had treatment for ovarian cancer during Ayu ready's run, so she was understandably absent from the scene at that time...

Thats right! I forgot.

I'm really liking the narrative in the dorama. Even tho it's very soap opera-esque, I'm feeling it's very accurate. Masa did play a huge part in Ayu's career and sucess and during her All Night Nippon you can see how grateful she is to him for making her a singer and celebrity. As a fan, I'm glad they made the whole visuals and recreate the PVs and jackets.

I don't like the Reika part at all as well as the other group bullying drama. lol I wonder if they will show Ayu's performance on Music Station in which she is really sick and coughing that hapenned (allegedly) on the same day they broke up.

^ They will show it. It was on the final episode teaser :)

They definitely portray AXELS vibe! (More than MAX)

Do this dorama well-received in Japan?

I would say so. It trends each week pretty high on Twitter, but it's sort of more of a "so bad it's good" sort of watch rather than "this is really well made".

I’ve had a lot of people who know I like Ayu ask me if I’m watching it because they are too~

People who otherwise wouldn’t be so interested in Ayu.

So I’d say there’s a certain reach that it’s achieving. But yes, so bad it’s good seems to be a good way to describe it lol.

Ayu herself said so on her insta stories lol I myself couldn’t finish the drama, I just can’t with the acting.

I've only seen a short clip on IG and the dramatic music was very beautiful.

I want a photo of Kalen and Ayu together! I want a sit down interview too but I feel like the photo is a more realistic expectation lol Ayu has broke her silence and mentioned the drama on insta stories. Can anyone translate? :D

Last episode: https://blitzfansub.com/m-ai-subeki-...episode-7-end/

From google translate : She quoted the writer of the drama who said he was afraid of people's feedback after the last episode, but he said that if people say "it was so bad that it's good" he would be happy. Ayu then say that yes, she hated it but loved it at the same time and she thanks the people on the last photo (Max and idk who) for witnessing the story or something.

I can imagine Ayu being pissed over some stuff on this final episode lol. The scene with her rivals was genuinelly cute though.

Overall I enjoyed it, though I really would have loved it to looke more 1990/early 2000's (with fashion, hairstyles, makeup trends)! I'm kind of confused by the leap between Masa being given 3 projects to pull him away from Ayu, to Masa becoming the president, it wasn't explained at any point?

The second half of the drama felt really rushed. I wonder if they really axed some episodes due to the coronavirus as someone said over here.

Considering it's the drama's title, the composition of M deserved an whole episode (the final one).

Also, I would like to see how the loveppears cover idea came to life, considering it was kinda controversial at the time

Love that she was candid about it being bad!

There's a bit of funny context with the text too. remove-mom on the AHS Discord had a rough translation that essentially mentioned the same things... and another bit!

The funny bit is that Osamu Suzuki seemed to talk about Ayu's reaction stressing him out to the point of constipation maybe and that he wouldn't be able to poop until Ayu did say something about the drama... then Ayu answered along with "Please don't poop" as sort of a reassurance that he doesn't have to worry about pooping LOL.

I think the last line was more to people who watched as thanks to "witnessing the history" that the drama showed?

Also the guy in the picture is Susumu Fujita, the president of CyberAgent. They operate the TV station that developed the drama.

Totally agree. Would've loved to see how CREA came to be, and also the decision to go to New York for LOVEppears. Oh well.

This show is truly so bad that it's good. I really can't wait for the Reika spin-off. I hope Blitz subs it too.

Interesting to note that Ayu commented on that performance before of appears with the coughing and had some kind of explanation for it with her necklace but now we know it's because of Max and her breaking up that day from the book... right?

The DVD BOX of the drama will be released on Friday, October 30, 2020.
In addition to the main part of the drama, special videos will be recorded

▽Content▽
・All 7 episodes
・Bonus video
4-disc DVD ¥16,720

I wonder if they'll try to include the "director's cut" versions too.

I wonder what the bonus video would be.

MORE Reika shenanigans? A supercut of Masa screaming at virtually every other person? M PV?

They mention CMs/PR videos as one of the bonuses in the order page. Based on other dramas, it'll probably be interviews, press conferences, and maybe some special making stuff. Maybe commentary as well?

LOL. I hate him. He needs therapy.

I think they didn't include Loveppears because Kalen doesn't want to be topless? The top she's wearing in the mock Boys & Girls cover is more like a tank top than the bikini Ayu is wearing on the actual cover.

Don't know if anyone noticed but comediam Ringo chan made a cameo on the last episode lol She is a transgender comedian know for doing impersonations and have been openly a fan of Ayu (people often thinks she will do an Ayu impersonation - because of her cute voice and similar Ayu haircut from 2015 - and then she always do male impersonation with very rispy voice.

https://i.imgur.com/UvESxCV.png?1
https://www.instagram.com/p/CCTAT7QhMFg/

Also there's this one video about Ayu:

Oh, that explains all the "RINGO CHAN!" reactions I saw with a picture of a lady trying to kiss the poster, lol.

Ayu released a new very ayuish track.

And Kalen released something that doesn't feel Ayuish for once (besides the Depend on you sample at the intro lol):



I'm pretty sure she was set to play Ayu on this drama since her debut.

lol I noticed at the end, the lady kissing the poker face poster, I thought it must have been a crazy extra and no one noticed on set

She or Avex just can't help herself, they found a track that mostly sounds the most distance from Ayu yet but they had to stick in the thick riff from Depend on You in the intro. I want to like her a lot but her version of Vogue in the final episode was trash too.

Reading the comments on the video, it seems Matsuura made a blog post defending Kalen and dismissing the Ayu copy "nonsense"?

^Funny enough, this PV is the first time ever i felt any interest on her as a singer. When I need Ayuish songs, I can simply listen to Ayu. When I need Ayu pvs (what I usually don't), I can go for Ayu to watch those as aswell.

And yeah... The Vogue scene was tragic.

I had only ever heard fans speculate that it was because of the necklace (actually it was part of the dress). To me it looked like she swallowed wrong just before she started to sing, hence the coughing. In the tv documentary it is said that's the day they broke up and she had been emotional all day long resulting in a poor performance. Cool that they kept that performance in, but weird that they changed it to simply, Ayu is emotional and crying, not coughing. Also, Kalen didn't look to be crying at all lol.

Also, I'm sure Ayu is real happy that Max cheated on her for her own good, lol. :shakehead

Otherwise, I ended up enjoying the whole show. You can tell it was super rushed at the end though and they started getting clumsier with the factual basis and continuity.

Only DVDs? Come on, why no Blu-ray???

Maybe they'll do a VHS as a tribute to the era?

For me, as a fan who is never planning to read the book, the drama itself was very interesting. It's a pity it couldn't have ended more smoothly due to COVID19 pandemic but I really appreciate everyone's effort put into this work.

Also I have this other bittersweet feeling about Avex new artists and groups lacking their own seal and charisma. I can't help but wonder where it all started going the wrong way... despite all the economic efforts put into Karen Anzai it seems she is nowhere near to success and I'm praying her Music Station appareance to pay off, she is really getting better but very slowly. Looking back at Ayu's poker face it impressed me how much Ayu can deliver at such an early era.

Comparing new artists to people like Ayu, Namie, Utada, etc is complicated because they were already very out of the norm during their debuts. Artists with this kind of potential as very, very rare anywhere in the world.

I would say that in each decades and in all over the world there are always some singers that stand out thanks to their charisma & distinctive style or whatever but in my opinion it tend to be less and less the case in today’s music tbh I’ve difficulties to name someone really standing above others. It probably has to do with recording companies not investing much on artists like before and because of the evolution of the way of consuming music since the end of the 00’s. It's a global things.

Yeah, I'm sure there are many, many reasons for this and I'm sure someone could write a really long detailed analysis if they had the time. But I too find it a bit sad. Very few people are actually enjoyable to watch these days and most of them are people who are still around from the previous era.

I would say the tide started turning about 2008-ish? Avex also had Otsuka Ai, who was doing fantastically. Koda Kumi as well. And BoA was also a success for them in the early - mid 2000s. Then they gave Girl Next Door a good push, but failed. Since then who have they really backed strongly?

They've really backed FAKY a lot when you consider how everything they've released has flopped, if it was the late nineties or early 2000s, they would have been dropped already.

they turned to groups mostly. e-girls, AAA and their members, lol, faky... they seem to be trying to balance everything promoting more solo artists nowadays though

AAA is probably the cinderella story of avex at the moment, they're basically doing their third dome tour still at the end of the year before their disbandment.

I do think there are some pretty good newer performers that didn't hit it big yet... Vickeblanka and Reol come easily to mind.

TBH, I really think that 22 year old Ayu is more outstanding than Kalen Anzai. After seeing Kalen is M, boys&girls concert/PV outfits and hairstyles.

If kalen anzai was in fact the rising star back in year 2000, do you think she would have make it as big as Ayu?

Not bashing Kalen Anzai. But I was drawing a comparison since she plays as a rising star 22 year old Ayu.

I'm not up to date with the series but I don't remember if it was mentioned: was AXELS group and the whole Rukawa plot just made up for the series?

The drama had all of that added. It probably would have been rather stale without the additions.

Based on the Drama, I would say she doesn't stand a chance. But after watching her first tv performance, I actually found it to be pretty ok. Not amazing, but there are people doing that for longer with worst results.

I think this might be interesting for whoever is interesed in M drama and don't want to watch it fully ^_^ I made it

I like what you did there with transitions :) Good job!

Has anyone got the real life persormance of the appears song that Ayu sings and Kalen lipsynchs at the end of episode 7? I mean Ayu's TV performance, where she skips a lot of the song .

Yep, 100%.

Love how she leans on Yo-chan for support! :luv2

;)
https://media.giphy.com/media/ibX65m...SZa2/giphy.gif

I really miss Yocchan more after watching the original live again, if the drama was longer it would've been nice to have had that dynamic build up in her team. If the show ended up with a 12-15 episode run then it would've ended up better representing her story imo

Kalen's acting did improve over time which is why it sucks that it got cut short. I was really enjoying it even though it was corny!

I liked the mix of real life clips, and the bit where you synched Reika on the cymbals was hilarious :D Good job on it!

Thanks for your kind comments!! ^_^

Do you know where to download without hardsubs? I already have the softsubs from Blitz Fansub but the video files are not available.

Raws are around just on some of the sketchier sites where HD rips are.

http://ahsforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=124951

Another little feather for Ayu's cap:

Abema TV has announced their year-end ratings, and "M: Aisubeki Hito ga Ite was their third-most watched program overall, and their most-watched TV dorama!

I am SO late to the party but I finally watched this show and... I have so many things I really need to say about it gah!

First of all - where the f was Yocchan?? :grumpy :P I just watched the actual performance of appears in which she 'cries' (wasn't she sneezing/coughing or was that just a cover up?) and Yocchan is her ROCK. Seems he's been her cheer squad from the beginning. How good would it have been if there had been a Yocchan character in the show?? I heart Yocchan so much (bring back Yocchan!!)

But mainly, how one dimensional is Ayu in this drama?! :dead2:dead2 It's so depressing. I listened to the actual 'All night Japan' recording she did to promote the A Song for xx album release (it's really good, I recommend anyone to listen to it - it's on YouTube!) and she sounded nothing like she does in the drama. Yes she had a baby voice, but it was also a husky voice, and she wasn't just cute and naive, she was also cool. She was a loner who skipped school, got along better with boys than girls, and spent all her time in NY looking for new ways to 'asobu' (play/muck around) rather than going to training. Ayu is a really interesting person - she's not this flannel... The character development of Masa in the show is 10x that of Ayu - I mean even Reika has more character development (don't get me started on that ridiculous character).

I know the show isn't really meant to be non-fiction, but it annoys me a lot because the book was marketed as a 'non-fiction novel' and the show was marketed as based on the book. People will watch it thinking it's loosely based on fact and get an impression of Ayu (and of Max Matsuura) that is totally false. It's like rewriting history. How good would it have been to have a serious biographical show or film about Ayu? Sigh. The production values are so cheap as well. Just why? The wigs! And Kalen's expressionless 'live' performances :dead2 It's mean to say but she doesn't look like Ayu at all - her coloured contacts make her pupils look huge and her face is too round and her body type is very different. I feel like they only picked her for the round shape of her eyes (I mean she seems lovely, don't get me wrong)

Obviously I watched all 7 episodes though - like a trainwreck you just can't look away from haha.

I wonder what the reaction of the Japanese fan base was like...?

I don't know about the japanese fans reactions, but the audience was rather good and the dorama captivated people's attention. I understand your frustration around the over-the-top characterizations, but this is not an biographical film or series, it's a soap opera, with all the inherent tropes of it, made for entertainment. Even the book was marketed as a fictionalized novel based on facts and a lot of things there isn't real, so I'm in peace with the dorama adaptation.

In the other hand, I'm 100% with you about the lack of stage presence of Kalen Anzai while portraying Ayu on stage. I mean, Ayu was kinda immature in that aspect on her early days, but she was magnetic and charismatic during concerts.

Ya I agree ayu is immature during 1998-2003… but she’s have so much charisma and potential when she sings and perform on stage. Nothing like what Kalen Anzai portrayed

Amen!

Would you recommend watching it in the end?

Hmmm, personally, as a drama in and of itself, it was crappy and not particularly worth watching (the 'comedy' was not funny, the character development was not great for most characters, ridiculous bits were just cringe), but as a fan I'm glad I watched it, a) out of curiosity, given the subject matter, and b) because it got me more interested in Ayu's early days, and prompted me to look up more TV performances and things from that time and think about what sort of headspace Ayu was in when she debuted, when she wrote those first lyrics, etc.

For Reika fans:

https://qjweb.jp/column/25133/
https://nlab.itmedia.co.jp/nl/articl...2/news026.html

I've watched the show and now I want to read the book but can't find it anywhere, is there even English version or translation or everyone here who said they read it had read it in Japanese?

I believe 3 additional episodes were scrapped because of COVID restrictions and the constant delays of the filming, so that’s kind of unfortunate. I feel like it ended up being even worse because they didn’t even have the planned amount of episodes to finish lol.

I actually never ended up watching it until the end. I blame the wigs.

I never got around to finishing this either. But that bit where the music teacher dumps a gigantic bucket of water on Ayu was hilarious. Had fun talking about that scene with my Japanese friends lol

I don't think the additional episodes would have been enough to save the show. I watched the whole thing and enjoyed it as a guilty pleasure, but the writing, the acting, and the CGI were all atrocious. But it's not because the story was bad; it was just executed in the cheapest, most cringe-worthy way possible. :weep

I wish it had helped Kalen's career, though. She has some really good songs, and I was expecting at least a small boost in her popularity.

I haven't been on AHS in forever, so I'm surprised people are still talking about this lol.

But, in retrospect, I don't think Kalen was right for this role. She embodied the sort of innocent demeanor that Ayu had back in the day, but she doesn't really do Ayu's strong and fearless side convincingly well. I wish Kalen the best in her career, of course.

Shohei did a good job as Max, although I doubt the real Max was anywhere near that gorgeous lol. But that's okay -- shows are bound to take that kind of liberty. If they were going to do that, though, I wish they would've given Ayu more autonomy. It felt like all of her decisions were done for Max's sake, often to her own detriment. I was proud of her in the show for dumping him, but again, I wish Kalen had done it more convincingly.

I agree with those who've said that this adaptation is a guilty pleasure more than anything. It's cute if you're an Ayu Stan, but otherwise it really isn't saying anything. What's the message? That it's okay to fall in love with someone who was basically grooming you? Shoutout to the crazy obsessed assistant, though. Her actress really played up that role and I appreciate that lol. Anyway...good to see that the forum is still lively.